r 
 
 &.
 
 I
 
 / C-X "-** ^-~<~-
 
 LETTERS 
 
 INSTITUTIONS FOR AMK LIQUATING THE CONDITION OF 
 THE PEOPLE, 
 
 ttfli) from $3art$, 
 IN THE AUTUMN OF 1845. 
 
 KT 
 
 JOHN MINTER MORGAN. 
 
 LONDON. 
 
 CHAPMAN AND HALL, ISO STUAND.
 
 Recently published, 
 
 Imp. 4to. with Plates, 12*. ; Small Edition, Is. 6d. 
 THE CHRISTIAN COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 BY JOHN MINTER MORGAN. 
 
 LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL. 
 
 ex 
 
 GEORGE BARCLAY, 
 CASTLE STKEET, LHTCESTER S(jUAHE.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 LETTER PAGi! 
 
 I. Boulogne Rev. Kynaston Groves English Chart- 
 ists Fair for Ten Days Lord Cowley 1 
 
 II. Paris M.Victor Considerant L'Ecole Societaire 
 Bishop Luscomb M. le Baron Degerando M. 
 Jullien de Paris M. Bowes 10 
 
 III. Rheims Scientific Congress M. Jobard Ponti- 
 
 fical Mass ^Magnificent Cathedral Protestant 
 Minister M . Petit Abbe Bonne ville Cafe . . 19 
 
 IV. Return to Paris Dr. Barriere of Lyons Inter- 
 
 view with M. Guizot M. Allier Petit-bourg 
 Its late possessor, M. Aguado 29 
 
 V. Dr. Villerme Sentiments of Xapoleon and of the 
 Duke of Wellington Monuments M. F. Vil- 
 legardelle Abbe Ledreuil Le Prelat Veys- 
 siere Theorie de la Societe Archbishop of 
 Paris Dr. Wiseman 40 
 
 VI. M. Louis Hamelin La Societe d' Adoption pour 
 les Enfaus Trouves M. Alfred Blanche M. 
 Paul de Thury M. deBervanger L'CEuvre de 
 Saint Nicolas Ministre Protestant, M. Coquerel 
 Mr. Young 52 
 
 VII. Treachery of the Algerines Saint-Cloud Con- 
 secration of Colours Opinion of the Mayor of 
 Strasbourg Aide-de-Camp du Roi Free Trade 64 
 
 VIII. Tours Mettray English Scenery M. de Metz 
 His Opinion on the Moral Effect of Agricultural 
 Employment English and French Character con- 
 trasted 71 
 
 IX. Description of the Colony Church Remoneau 
 Self-devotedness of M. De Metz Sisters of Cha- 
 rity Vicomte De Bretigiieres de Courteilles. ... 78 
 
 2000105
 
 IV CONTENTS. 
 
 X. Description of the Colony Character of the Co- 
 lonists Interesting Visit of "Abbe Fissiaux to 
 the Colony 85 
 
 XL Kev. Mr. Billey of Tours Orleans Protestant 
 
 Minister, M. Rosselloty 94 
 
 XII. Theory of Fourier fallacious The Christian the 
 
 only true Theory of Society 100 
 
 XIII. English Convent Madame Fairbairne Rev. Ro- 
 
 bert Lovett, Minister of Mabceuf Chapel Pro- 
 posed European Union for Improving the Condi- 
 tion of the Working Classes Prospectus for a 
 " Self-supporting Village Society" M. Cabet 
 Madame Flora Tristan 110 
 
 XIV. London Philanthropic Society, St. George's Fields 
 
 Captain Maconochie's successful Efforts Nor- 
 folk Island Ragged Schools Mitchell's Aus- 
 tralian Expedition Bishop of St. David Mr. 
 Grote Mr. Thomas Carlyle Bishop of Oxford 
 Animals' Friend Society 121 
 
 XV. Report of a Visit to Herrnhut and other Moravian 
 
 Settlements on the Continent in 1841 .. .132 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 Report of a Public Meeting 153 
 
 DIRECTIONS FOR PLACING THE PLATES. 
 
 Colony of Mettray Fro*itipiece. 
 
 Colony of Petit-bourg to face page 34 
 
 Colonists of Petit- bourg visiting an Invalid. . 3G 
 Normal School and Infirmary at Mettray ... 83 
 
 /
 
 LETTEBS 
 
 TO 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 Boulogne, August 19, 1845, 
 
 You will probably be surprised to receive a 
 letter from me dated on this side of the Channel, 
 and knowing the objects towards which my move- 
 ments are chiefly directed, will wonder what pro- 
 spect of success presents itself here. When at 
 Brighton in the autumn of 1844, for the purpose 
 of inviting the attention of the clergy to the de- 
 sign of the Self-supporting Institution, a public 
 explanation was given, illustrated by the trans- 
 parent painting at the Town Hall. Among the 
 audience was a gentleman who had long resided 
 in France as one of the detenus, and was well 
 acquainted with many of the personal friends of
 
 2 LETTER I. 
 
 the French king : he was greatly interested in 
 the plan, and afterwards called upon me to urge 
 a visit to Paris and solicit an audience of the 
 king, who had, he observed, experienced the ex- 
 tremes of adversity and prosperity, and was no 
 less distinguished by great talents and compre- 
 hensive views, than for the benevolence of his 
 character. Subsequently the same party wrote, 
 more than once, to me in London, still recom- 
 mending an excursion to Paris. Some friends of 
 mine, in different parts of the country, had been 
 desirous that the subject should be brought under 
 the notice of M. Guizot; and I must confess, 
 from the absence of national prejudice, and the 
 noble aspirations manifested in his works, I had 
 frequently hoped that some day an opportunity 
 would offer of attempting to gain an interview 
 with that distinguished statesman. Whether I 
 am now embarked in a fruitless enterprise, or 
 there is any chance of success, I know not ; but, 
 at all events, with introductions to those who will 
 enable me to see some of the most interesting 
 institutions allied to our object, more attention 
 may be found among some of the Directors. 
 - I crossed from Dover yesterday morning; the 
 day was remarkably fine, and we had a delight-
 
 BOULOGNE. 3 
 
 ful passage through an almost unruffled sea. The 
 time, only two hours, was too limited to suffice 
 for that general scrutiny in which Englishmen 
 are wont to indulge, in order to ascertain the 
 respective grade in society to which each stranger 
 belongs, before any advances are ventured. Cer- 
 tainly our character differs widely in this respect 
 from that of all other European nations, with 
 whom the common sympathies of humanity are 
 seldom lost sight of in their conventional dis- 
 tinctions. A military officer, at a general meet- 
 ing of his club in London, brought forward a 
 motion to the effect that no member addressing 
 another to whom he was unknown should be 
 considered as taking an improper liberty. He 
 had himself been a great traveller, and returning 
 after an absence of many years to his native 
 country, he was surprised that some of his over- 
 tures had been repulsed, although they had been 
 anything but obtrusive, and his address was 
 courteous and prepossessing. As I had made no 
 previous inquiries respecting the hotels, and ob- 
 serving one near the quay, though small, of 
 cleanly appearance, I sought shelter in the Hotel 
 de Paris, which is extremely comfortable, and has 
 a cheerful view of the harbour.
 
 4 LETTER I. 
 
 Notwithstanding the number of English resi- 
 dents, and the concourse of travellers passing and 
 repassing through Boulogne, it has all the cha- 
 racteristics of a French town, and with its noble 
 piers stretching far into the sea forming delight- 
 ful promenades, together with the agreeable 
 scenery of the surrounding country, it must 
 always be a favourite watering-place. 
 
 Early to-day I called upon the English clergy- 
 man, the Rev. Kynaston Groves, explained my 
 object, and gave him a prospectus ; he expressed 
 himself much interested in the subject, and was 
 kind enough to propose a meeting of the clergy 
 and of some of his friends at his own house ; but 
 the English having a bazaar to attend to for two 
 or three days in aid of the French Protestant 
 Church, he was uncertain if an audience could be 
 brought together. As it would be inconvenient 
 for me to remain more than a day or two, it was 
 ultimately decided that a meeting should take 
 place on the following evening in the school- 
 room, as there an opportunity would be afforded 
 for a more general assemblage. I was dining 
 the following day with some friends at the 
 table d'hote of the Hotel du Nord, when a note 
 arrived from Mr. Groves urging me to put off
 
 ENGLISH WORKMEN. 5 
 
 the meeting, as the bazaar had been so long pro- 
 tracted that it was found impossible for his 
 friends to be present. But the day and hour of 
 the meeting having been made known, by the 
 schoolmaster and others, to many parties, I 
 thought it better to attend. Upon arriving at 
 the school, I observed from twenty to thirty 
 English workmen gathered together in the street. 
 The schoolmaster said he did not know how they 
 could have heard of the meeting, and I requested 
 him to invite them to join the few who had 
 assembled. They listened with great attention to 
 my explanation of the plan, but at the conclusion 
 objected to the Church as excluding Dissenters : 
 when, however, it was intimated that each re- 
 ligious denomination would form its own Asso- 
 ciation, and some other objections had been 
 removed, they declared that it was the best 
 remedy for the disorders of society they had yet 
 heard of, and better than O'Connor's. Upon 
 inquiring what they meant by O'Connor's, they 
 said, he had proposed that the people should 
 subscribe 50007. to purchase an estate, and then 
 divide it into cottage allotments. I observed 
 that, whatever might be thought of the practica- 
 bility of such a scheme, it was necessary that the
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 people should have regular employment, of which 
 agriculture ought to form a part. 
 
 Of the working classes there is a considerable 
 number here from our own country, and what 
 effect this intercourse with, and dwelling among, 
 those whose observance of the Sabbath is so 
 widely different from our own, will have upon 
 their general character, remains to be seen. Last 
 Sunday occasioned no suspension of an annual 
 fair, which lasts ten days ; on the contrary, there 
 was a larger gathering than usual, and the games 
 and mountebank shows were said to be more 
 numerously attended. There was not, however, 
 any appearance of intoxication or quarrelling in 
 the streets. Both the English clergyman and his 
 schoolmaster have arduous duties, and of these 
 they are fully sensible, to preserve the children 
 from the temptations surrounding them. What- 
 ever difference of opinion may prevail as to the 
 best manner of employing the Sunday, all must 
 admit that, to those children who are taught to 
 keep it holy, an opposite example must necessarily 
 be injurious. 
 
 The Roman Catholic clergy, we may presume, 
 would prefer to witness less dissipation of mind, 
 less frivolity, less boisterous and more profitable
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC RELIGION. 7 
 
 recreations on this day. The difficulty of giving a 
 beneficial direction to the minds of the children 
 of the poor throughout the Sunday has sometimes 
 perplexed our own ministers; there is danger 
 that our discipline may be either too much re- 
 laxed or too strict. In a large town where the 
 clergy had succeeded in improving and widely 
 extending the schools, it was in contemplation to 
 provide a different and shorter service for the 
 numerous children : in general they go to the 
 Sunday school at nine, from thence, after reading 
 for two hours, to church, where they remain 
 another two hours without understanding much 
 of what passes. All this is calculated to associate 
 in their minds the idea of painful endurance with 
 that of religion. 
 
 The Roman Catholics allege, that although 
 they give only a part of the Sabbath to the ser- 
 vices of religion and the rest to recreation, their 
 churches are open daily and at all hours. I re- 
 member, when at Aix-la-Chapelle, visiting the 
 churches several tunes at seven o'clock in the 
 morning to observe the attendance at so early an 
 hour, I generally found about a hundred persons ; 
 and one morning, entering at six o'clock, I 
 counted seventy. At other times, when the
 
 8 LETTER I. 
 
 priests were absent, might often be seen a peasant 
 kneeling in front of one of the side altars offering 
 up his silent prayer before going forth to his daily 
 labour. May I confess, though I may be subject 
 to your reproof, that I have sometimes wished 
 that similar opportunities were offered in our 
 Protestant churches? I am aware of the argu- 
 ments usually brought forward against depending 
 upon external influences for the support of re- 
 ligion, that the Deity can be worshipped in a 
 chamber as well as in a temple, and that that 
 piety which results from an awe-inspiring build- 
 ing, or the excitement of music, is of too sensual 
 a character to be lasting ; but surely such facilities 
 as auxiliaries to religion should not be disre- 
 garded. When poor parents with a large family 
 are crowded in small apartments, overwhelmed 
 with their cares and distracted with the noise of 
 young children, it is difficult for them to abstract 
 their minds for devotional exercises. But instead 
 of the solemn temple to which they might resort 
 for a real solace for their distresses, there is open 
 for them in every large city attractive and 
 magnificent structures for the supply of ardent 
 spirits. 
 
 Hearing that Lord Cowley was at the Hotel
 
 LORD COWLEY. 9 
 
 des Bains, I addressed a letter to his lordship 
 stating the object of my visit to Paris, presenting 
 him at the same time with a copy of the " Christian 
 Commonwealth." I was requested to call upon 
 him, and was received with the greatest kindness. 
 Lord Cowley said that he was on his way to 
 England, and should return by the end of the 
 month, when, if I was still at Paris, he would 
 introduce me to Monsieur Guizot.
 
 LETTER II. 
 
 Paris, September 3, 1845. 
 
 I LEFT Boulogne on Wednesday the 20th of 
 August, at four o'clock, and reached the brilliant 
 metropolis of France about the same hour on the 
 following day, making twenty-four hours, which 
 are to be abridged next year to about one-third 
 of the time, when the railroad is completed. In 
 the present mode of travelling, the coupe of the 
 diligence, so roomy and cheerful, so independent 
 of care and trouble, and so much less liable to 
 accidents and delays, is far preferable to a private 
 carriage. 
 
 For a few days I put up at Meurice's Hotel, 
 which was crowded exclusively with English; I 
 then removed to apartments in Rue Montaigne, 
 where I had a convenient room for shewing the 
 plan to advantage. Many visitors came, singly 
 as well as in parties, Protestant as well as Catholic
 
 SUPERFICIAL INVESTIGATION. 11 
 
 clergymen. It would be tedious and uninterest- 
 ing to enumerate the results of the different ex- 
 planations, private and general, and while I re- 
 main here I will inform you of those only that 
 may be considered more important. Some are 
 ardent admirers of the plan and eager for a com- 
 mencement, others sceptical or wholly indifferent ; 
 some there are, having a favourite theory of their 
 own, condemn prematurely. I once had occasion 
 to explain the subject to a professor at Dresden, 
 who could speak neither English nor French, and 
 as I knew nothing of German, an intelligent 
 young Englishman offered to be our interpreter ; 
 but instead of translating my words seriatim, to 
 my great annoyance he stopped at every con- 
 cluding sentence, to exercise his own criticisms 
 upon the principles of the plan : at length I was 
 obliged to say that it would be doing him great 
 injustice to suppose him competent to offer an 
 opinion until the whole subject was before him. 
 He took the hint and promptly resumed his 
 character of interpreter. 
 
 Mrs. L , the writer of an able work, 
 
 entitled " Philanthropic Economy," published 
 some years since, and of a smaller volume more 
 recently published, " The Light of Mental
 
 12 LETTER II. 
 
 Science," which, I am sure, will interest you, has 
 many agreeable parties at her hotel, Rue Royale ; 
 these I have had the pleasure of attending. All her 
 visitors at different times have come to my rooms, 
 and among them a young Bulgarian, who is quite 
 enthusiastic regarding the plan, and most anxious 
 to see it adopted in his own country, where the 
 ingenuous and trusting character of the natives 
 render them the best materials for moulding into 
 a superior order of society. 
 
 On Saturday, August 3, I called upon M. 
 Victor Considerant, at 10 Rue Seine, the office of 
 the " Democratique Pacifique," of which he is the 
 principal editor ; this is also the depot of all the 
 works of Fourier. These are published by a 
 company called 1'Ecole Societaire, composed en- 
 tirely of the disciples of Fourier, who call them- 
 selves Phalansterians ; and so great is their suc- 
 cess that their income exceeds six thousand pounds 
 a-year, arising partly from subscriptions and 
 partly from the sale of their works : this year 
 they sold upwards of twenty -five thousand of then- 
 Almanack, and next year they expect to sell fifty 
 thousand. M. Victor Considerant being much 
 occupied, and about to depart for Orleans, he 
 wished me to see M. Daly, an architect, to whom
 
 ENGLISH CHURCH. 13 
 
 he sent me with a guide. With this gentleman 
 I had a long conversation, chiefly upon the system 
 of Fourier, with which I am at present but im- 
 perfectly acquainted. I then called upon Mr. 
 Doherty, who conducts the English correspond- 
 ence, and formerly published in London a pe- 
 riodical as the English organ of their principles. 
 He returned with me to the office, and made 
 arrangements for the exhibition of the painting 
 at the next weekly meeting, and the general 
 announcement of the explanation to be given. 
 
 On Sunday I attended the morning service at 
 the English Church, and was introduced in the 
 vestry to Bishop Luscomb and Archdeacon Keat- 
 ing; the former was in great affliction, having 
 recently lost his only surviving daughter, who 
 was affectionately attached to him and of great 
 assistance, as he has some of the infirmities of 
 advancing years ; his sermon was impressive, and 
 not the less so from being delivered under the 
 pressure of melancholy, and with greater earnest- 
 ness. After the service I was introduced to the 
 Rev. M. Lefevre, who invited me to call upon 
 him. In the evening I attended the Erench 
 Protestant Church at the Oratoire in the Rue 
 Sainte-Honore ; the congregation was very small,
 
 14 LETTER II. 
 
 and assembled in a room connected with the 
 
 large church. I recognised the Rev. W 
 
 D of Wolverhampton there, and also at the 
 
 morning service ; he had shewn me some atten- 
 tion in his own parish, when I visited that town 
 in 1843, and he invited me to call upon him at 
 the Hotel du Rhin. 
 
 Some years since I had seen a powerful work 
 entitled " Self-education, or The Means and Art 
 of Moral Progress," an American translation from 
 the French of M. le Baron Degerando. I had 
 long desired to see him : having inquired for his 
 address I proceeded to the house, and found he 
 had died two or three years since ; his son, the 
 present baron, presented me with the reprint of 
 a small work of his father's, which he had just 
 edited, entitled " Des Progres de 1'Industrie." 
 The baron was interested in my plan, and I hope 
 to see him on his return from the country in a 
 month, as well as his interesting little daughter, 
 not more than nine or ten years of age, who bade 
 me adieu in English, which she was just beginning 
 to learn. 
 
 On Wednesday evening the painting was exhi- 
 bited and explained to 1'Ecole Societaire, and so 
 brilliantly and effectively had the attendants lighted
 
 L'COLE SOCIETAIRE. 15 
 
 it up that the members were delighted with its ap- 
 pearance, and resolved to have five or six executed 
 of the phalanstere for the use of their own lectures. 
 The meeting was full, and composed of men of 
 education and science. I was informed that they 
 were more tenacious of respectability of appear- 
 ance, and of keeping their society select, in conse- 
 quence of the extravagances of the St. Simonians, 
 who had a similar object, and the two sects of 
 philosophy might otherwise be confounded. After 
 the lecture it was asked, "why a military man was 
 recommended as governor ?" and when I replied, 
 " because he was in general a good disciplinarian," 
 they still were not reconciled to the arrangement. 
 The president, or one of the leading members, 
 came to me after the explanation and said he 
 liked the plan much, but that of Fourier's better, 
 and politely requested me to make use of their 
 rooms during my stay in Paris. I was subse- 
 quently informed that many thought the plan 
 preferable as a preliminary; and two intelligent 
 young men, one of whom was their missionary to 
 Switzerland, visited me two days afterwards, and 
 acknowledged the superiority of the Christian 
 principle and practice in association to that of
 
 16 LETTER II. 
 
 Fourier's. The latter I must take an early op- 
 portunity of examining. 
 
 There was a large congregation on Sunday 
 last at the English Church, when the bishop, 
 rather less depressed in spirits, again preached an 
 admirable sermon for the benefit of the sufferers 
 in the fallen buildings at Rouen during the last 
 storm. The collection was said to be much 
 larger than usual upon similar occasions. 
 
 I have received a letter from M. Jullien de 
 Paris, recommending me to go next week with 
 the plan to the Congress of Scientific Men at 
 Rheims ; and, more especially, as it differs from 
 the British Association in having a Section for 
 Legislation and Political Economy. 
 
 If, however, I should attend the Congress, it 
 will not be with any very sanguine expectations 
 of success ; my experience in importuning the 
 erudite scholar, or the man of science, has not 
 led to the conclusion that either will bear any 
 comparison with the religious character, in a 
 higher estimation of the moral duties and of the 
 claims of humanity : all are ready to repeat, 
 Homo sum, et nihil humanum a me alienum puto, 
 until it has become the most common of all
 
 MODERN PHILOSOPHERS. 17 
 
 commonplaces. But the path of a comet has 
 more interest than the ways of righteousness in a 
 nation ; and the phenomena in the depths of the 
 earth are, to the modern philosopher, subjects of 
 more curious research than the condition and im- 
 provement of his own species on the surface. 
 Whatever refinement of manners we may attri- 
 bute, with the Latin poet, to the cultivation of 
 the liberal arts, the more enduring graces and 
 the sterling virtues spring from a different source ; 
 and when the pursuits of Science shall be directed 
 by Religion, and have moral ends for their object, 
 her past triumphs will be immeasurably surpassed 
 by her future progress. Feeble is the aid religion 
 derives from science compared with that which 
 it imparts. But at the Congress of Rheims the 
 archbishop is to preside ; there we shall have, in 
 form, at least, no inverted order : let us hope 
 that the vitality, also, of Religion will be present. 
 I have had a visit from M. Cabet, who, I 
 understand, has influence among the working 
 classes ; he has written an imaginative work of 
 600 pages, a copy of which he gave me, entitled 
 " Voyage en Icarie," in favour of co-operation, 
 but which I have not had time to examine. He 
 was of opinion that I should do no good at the
 
 18 LETTER It. 
 
 Congress; the political economists would not 
 tolerate any but their own principle of compe- 
 tition. 
 
 I have also had the pleasure of seeing M. 
 Bowes, the chief editor of " Galignani's Mes- 
 senger," and, although a Frenchman, few of our 
 own countrymen speak English with more fluency, 
 and with better choice of words ; he entered with 
 much feeling into my object, and was confident 
 the subject was one that would be well received 
 by the king, of whom he spoke in terms of admi- 
 ration, and thought the queen also, from the 
 piety and benevolence of her character, would be 
 equally interested : he kindly offered to do every 
 thing he could to promote my object, and he has 
 since noticed the plan in very favourable terms 
 in the " Messenger."
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 Rheims, September 15, 1845. 
 
 I ARRIVED here at nine o'clock on the morning 
 of the 4th instant, having left Paris the evening 
 before at six. I found M. Jullien de Paris at 
 the Lion d'Or, where I engaged a room. The 
 Congress had been sitting many days, and he 
 lamented that my arrival had not been earlier. 
 On Saturday, the 6th, he presented one of my 
 lithographic prints and the work at the general 
 meeting, for which the archbishop, Th. Gousset, 
 as president, returned me public thanks in very 
 courteous terms. The following paragraph was in- 
 serted in the papers without my knowledge : 
 
 "Dans la Seance generale du Congres scientifique 
 du Samedi, 6 Septembre, a la suite de la lecture du 
 proces- verbal, M. Jullien de Paris, delegue de la Societe 
 poly technique de Paris, appele & la tribune par M. le 
 President, a rendu compte sommairement des travaux et
 
 20 LETTER III. 
 
 du but des societes qu'il etait charge de reprsenter au 
 Congres, et a fait hommage, au nom de 1'auteur, Mr. 
 I. M. Morgan, Anglais, present a la Seance, d'un livre et 
 d'un tableau relatifs a une quelque maison d'habitation 
 commune, d'instruction et d'assistance mutuelles, au 
 profit des classes laborieuses, agricoles, ouvrieres et in- 
 dustrielles, qui trouveraient dans cette habitation tous 
 les avantages d'une grande economic avec ceux d'un 
 bien-etre reel, et qui 3e creeraient, de plus, des ressources 
 assurees contre les accidens et les infirmites de la vieil- 
 lesse. Cette communication, qui se rattachait a 1'une 
 des questions du Congres, a etc accueillie par de vifs 
 applaudissemens." 
 
 Although the address of M. Jullien de Paris 
 and that of the president were received, certainly, 
 with great applause, it must be considered as 
 merely complimentary to the general object or to 
 the stranger, as the plan itself had not been suf- 
 ficiently explained. On Saturday evening the 
 Congress gave a ball at the theatre, the pit having 
 been raised to a level with the stage. Here I had 
 a long conversation with M. Jobard of Brussels, 
 to whom I had before been introduced ; he 
 lamented that a project he had brought forward 
 found so little favour with M. Leon Faucher 
 and other political economists there, who regarded 
 Free Trade as the chief remedy for the evils
 
 M. JOBARD. 21 
 
 afflicting society. M. Jobard has published a 
 pamphlet, entitled " Monautopole," which he 
 constructs from Greek words, meaning, a man has 
 a right to that which he can produce. Here is his 
 opinion of competition : 
 
 " On ne saurait trop le repetef, la libre concurrence 
 a jete Fanarchie dans 1'industrie et le commerce, la 
 couronne d'or apartient aujourd'hui a qui frelate la 
 plus habilement ses produits, et la couronne d'epine a 
 qui les frelate le moins ; c'est enfin une subversion totale 
 des principes qui devraient presider k 1'organisation de 
 toute societe chretienne." 
 
 The pamphlet attempts to describe a method 
 through which the inventor, the manufacturer, the 
 workman, and the merchant, representing the 
 head, the stomach, the hands, and the legs of the 
 social body, may each have a due share of the 
 produce of their united exertions ; his plan ap- 
 pears to be altogether vague and impracticable. 
 
 Sunday was a very grand day at the cathe- 
 dral, when high pontifical mass was performed in 
 honour of the Congress ! Seats were appropriated 
 for the members, affording them a view of the 
 whole ceremony, part of which was very impos- 
 ing : a golden mitre was placed upon the head 
 of the archbishop, and his robes arranged with
 
 22 LETTER III. 
 
 great care by the attendant priests ; the mitre 
 was afterwards taken off and then replaced : this 
 was repeated several times with various move- 
 ments, which to me were quite unintelligible, 
 nor could I obtain any satisfactory explanation ; 
 but the Catholics seemed to imagine that some 
 deep mystery was implied. The music was re- 
 markably fine, and reverberating through the vast 
 edifice, lifted the soul heavenward, often uncon- 
 scious of the earthly pageant. The procession at 
 the end of the ceremony, with the archbishop 
 wearing his gorgeous robes and splendid mitre, 
 blessing the people with one hand, and with the 
 other bearing a large golden crook, had an im- 
 posing effect. 
 
 The archbishop is dignified in his deportment, 
 although he is said to have followed the plough 
 for fourteen years ; he starts this week for Rome, 
 and as it is reported, to receive a cardinal's hat. 
 
 In the afternoon there was an agricultural 
 meeting and a distribution of prizes under the 
 walls of the town, but the cattle and horses 
 would not have been highly esteemed by our 
 English farmers ; and in the evening there was a 
 grand dinner. 
 
 On Monday I was introduced to the arch-
 
 ARCHBISHOP OF RHEIMS. 23 
 
 bishop, at his private apartments at the palace, 
 when I requested the honour of explaining the 
 design of the Self-supporting Institution to him 
 and the assembled clergy ; he received me very 
 courteously, but feared that it would be impos- 
 sible, as he was leaving for Paris in a day or two. 
 When I observed that if the plan were approved 
 at the court of Rome, the attention of the hier- 
 archy of Ireland would probably be directed to it 
 by the pope, he intimated that it could scarcely 
 be expected that he should be interested in a 
 country so distant. We have, therefore, yet to 
 learn the geographical limits within which our 
 Christian duties and sympathies are to be circum- 
 scribed. 
 
 The president of the section to which my 
 painting was referred permitted it to be placed 
 against the window ; but there was evidently a 
 desire to pass it by. M. Victor Considerant had 
 arrived at Rheims the night before, and this had 
 increased the prejudices against the plan, the 
 members of the section being persuaded that it 
 could be no other than a phalanstere. M. Con- 
 siderant had applied to the authorities, the pre- 
 fect and mayor, for permission to give a public 
 lecture, but was refused, although two or three
 
 24 LETTER III. 
 
 months since lie had had a long interview with 
 M. Guizot, who had expressed himself quite satis- 
 fied with the proceedings of 1'Ecole Societaire. 
 
 If the discussions of all the sections are con- 
 ducted like that which I attended, they differ 
 materially from those of the British Association, 
 where one person only is allowed to speak at a 
 time ; here four or five contend loudly with each 
 other until the president is compelled to ring 
 a little bell, which, however, is not always at- 
 tended to, and if it is, they soon fall into similar 
 confusion. 
 
 On Tuesday, the 9th, we had a concert in 
 the great hall of the archbishop's palace, and on 
 Wednesday there was a grand display of fire- 
 works in the public gardens. 
 
 I have spent two very agreeable evenings 
 with the interesting family of M. Petit, the French 
 Protestant minister. His lady is English, but 
 having been eight years in France speaks French 
 not only fluently, but with the accent and preci- 
 sion of a native. Here I met M. Inodore Vieu, 
 the chief editor of the " Journal de Rheims," and 
 a very accomplished man ; they all became ex- 
 tremely interested in the Self-supporting Institu- 
 tion, and Mrs. Petit intends to translate the pro-
 
 M. PETIT OF RHEIMS. 25 
 
 spectus. I had an opportunity of attending the 
 church of M. Petit on Sunday ; he is earnest and 
 animated in the pulpit, but the congregation was 
 very small. Mrs. Petit was kind enough to give 
 me some of their religious books and tracts, in 
 the circulation of which they are very active. They 
 gave me introductions also to their Protestant 
 friends in Paris. 
 
 I waited a day or two after the Congress had 
 separated in the hope of gaining further attention 
 from some of the Catholic clergy, with whom I 
 had previously conversed, particularly the Abbe 
 Bonneville. He, however, was still much oc- 
 cupied, as well as others, with the archbishop's 
 departure. The Abbe requested me to remove 
 the painting to the Bibliotheque at the Hotel 
 de Ville, and promised to be there on Thurs- 
 day, the llth, at twelve o'clock. I waited 
 from that time nearly two hours, and I was in- 
 formed that he went down soon after I had left. 
 The chief librarian said the painting might re- 
 main for several days, and I endeavoured to 
 bring together a few of the influential inhabitants. 
 M. Ruinart, a most intelligent man, urged me to 
 see the mayor, who, he was sure, would meet 
 him and a few others on the following day. I
 
 26 LETTER III. 
 
 could not see the mayor until the morning, when 
 he was much disconcerted that any one should 
 give permission for the painting to be put up 
 without consulting him as he had just refused 
 M. Victor Considerant the use of a public build- 
 ing ; and the sight of the painting in a public room, 
 which all classes were permitted to enter on 
 that day, might make them dissatisfied with their 
 present condition. When the circumstances were 
 explained he was pacified, and hoped it would be 
 removed in the evening. A countrywoman and 
 her two children were very innocently looking at 
 the painting, and I was amused at the anxiety 
 with which the mayor hurried them out of the 
 room. 
 
 I have succeeded in interesting the editors of 
 the papers and many of the clergy, besides my 
 Protestant friends, who promised to distribute the 
 tracts and prospectuses, and all agree that I have 
 left them something useful to reflect upon. 
 
 There is a cafe in this city which all strangers 
 visit for its magnificence ; it is of moderate size, 
 but lined throughout with looking-glasses divided 
 by semi-pillars, which the reflexion renders ap- 
 parently entire ; the room at the sides and upper 
 end appears interminable. At two of the angles
 
 RHEIMS CATHEDRAL. 27 
 
 of the room, where the looking-glasses meet, is 
 the quarter of a marble table, with a basin, and 
 fountain, seemingly complete from the reflexion. 
 
 In the centre of the room was a small bronze 
 statue representing the figure of Don Quixotte, 
 in a fantastic attitude, with a very long pipe de- 
 pending from his mouth, in the bowl of which 
 was a small gas-light as the light of the tobacco ; 
 the bronze figure of a monkey was beneath ignit- 
 ing a match, which he applied with his paw to 
 the bowl of the pipe. Here the visitors also lighted 
 their cigars. The ceiling was beautifully painted 
 on glass in different compartments, separated by 
 divisions of frame-work in gold. 
 
 My chamber is opposite to the cathedral, and 
 the moon, now at its full, throws into solemn light 
 and shade its vast dimensions, imparting a 
 mysterious sublimity to its lofty towers. A fine 
 cathedral has at all times an irresistible attrac- 
 tion, and after entering a town where one is to 
 be found I pay it an early visit, but never do I 
 recollect to have beheld one of such surpassing 
 grandeur as this of Rheims. Often have I 
 entered it during the day, but seldom without 
 being deeply impressed with the conviction that 
 HO ordinary mind could have given birth to such 
 a conception, or left a monument of piety so calcu-
 
 28 LETTER III. 
 
 lated, long after the name and very existence of 
 the author have been forgotten, to awaken pure 
 desires and holy aspirations, and teach after-ages 
 to raise their thoughts to that Infinite from whom 
 his own inspiration was derived. 
 
 Nor is this cathedral more distinguished by 
 the grandeur of its proportions than by the beauty 
 and richness of its ornaments, or the number and 
 fine expression of its statuary. An artist from 
 Paris has been for the last week copying some of 
 the larger statues in front of the towers, and 
 several times has he pointed out to me, with en- 
 thusiastic admiration, figures which he deems 
 quite equal to the antique. 
 
 When we are carried back to those remote 
 periods ere the art of printing was invented, and 
 call to mind those holy men who, notwithstand- 
 ing the ignorance and superstition of the age in 
 which they lived, have remained faithful to their 
 God ; when we contemplate them in their different 
 spheres of action, the imagination beholds some 
 striving to kindle in the breasts of then* youthful 
 hearers a spark of that fire which burned in their 
 own ; how powerful must have been the spirit- 
 stirring influence of their oral instructions com- 
 pared with that which is derived listlessly from 
 books !
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 Paris, September 30, 1845. 
 
 ON Wednesday evening, September 17, I paid 
 another visit to FEcole Societaire, when I met 
 M. Voluzan, a retired officer, who gave me his 
 plan for 400 families living together and com- 
 bining their expenditure. There was also a 
 manufacturer who proposed sharing his profits 
 with the workmen, and who came to consult the 
 members as to the best mode of effecting the 
 arrangements. He was appointed to attend their 
 committee on the following Monday, when the 
 morning is devoted to giving information on 
 those subjects ; and I was informed that similar 
 applications were numerous. I was introduced to 
 a very intelligent man, Dr. Barriere, from Lyons ; 
 he came to see my painting on the following 
 morning, and gave the preference to the Christian 
 principle of the strong aiding the weak, and as
 
 30 LETTER IV. 
 
 being even now the most practicable under cer- 
 tain modifications. He said that the people at 
 Lyons were in a bad state, wanting work, but 
 that their children were not so much employed 
 as at Lille and Mulhausen. He urged me to 
 visit Lyons. 
 
 On Friday I had a visit from the Rev. M. 
 Toase, who, although a Wesleyan minister, has 
 had a superior education, and his classical attain- 
 ments, I am informed, are considerable. He is 
 much esteemed by most of the clergy of the 
 Church of England here ; he promised to send 
 many others to view the painting, with the sub- 
 ject of which he expressed great sympathy. 
 
 Hearing that Lord Cowley had returned, I 
 waited upon him on Saturday, the 20th, when 
 he received me with his accustomed courtesy and 
 offered to send a copy of the " Christian Com- 
 monwealth" to M. Guizot. He suggested that 
 the Minister of the Interior's was, perhaps, the 
 more legitimate office for such a subject ; but as 
 he was good enough to leave it to my choice, and 
 the Comte Duchatel was in the country, I begged 
 permission to send a copy to M. Guizot, adding, 
 that I could forward one to the Minister of the 
 Interior on his return to town.
 
 BISHOP LUSCOMBE. 31 
 
 On the same evening I drank tea with Bishop 
 Luscombe, who was in much better spirits. He 
 said my plan was practicable; that the book I 
 had sent him was constantly on his table, and had 
 been examined by many of his friends. The 
 bishop has a large gallery of valuable paintings, 
 which he invited me to see some Friday morning, 
 the usual day for receiving his friends. 
 
 There were so many members of the Govern- 
 ment as well as literary and other influential 
 characters absent, and not likely to return to 
 Paris before November, that I had resolved to go 
 over to England and make arrangements for 
 spending the winter in France ; and on Wednes- 
 day, when I was stepping into a carriage to take 
 me to the Rouen railway station, and there was 
 no time to be lost, a messenger arrived with a 
 note from Lord Cowley, in which his lordship 
 said, 
 
 " I have received a note from M. Guizot, who in- 
 forms me that he has looked over your work with great 
 interest, and that he will be happy to receive you at 
 the Foreign Office to-morrow (Thursday), at two o' clock ; 
 or Sunday, at Beauxepour, his residence in the country, 
 near Passy." 
 
 I requested the messenger to present my com-
 
 32 LETTER IV. 
 
 pliments to his lordship, and say that, as I was 
 that moment going off to England, I was pre- 
 vented sending a written reply, but that on my 
 return I would do myself the honour of waiting 
 upon his lordship and upon M. Guizot. 
 
 The messenger had no sooner left than it struck 
 me that the present opportunity should not be 
 lost, and I dismissed the carriage, resolving to 
 remain. I sat down and wrote immediately to 
 Lord Cowley, stating that I had altered my de- 
 termination. I went myself with the letter to the 
 hotel, and sent it up with my card ; Lord Cowley 
 invited me to his rooms, approved of my resolu- 
 tion, end recommended me to go to the Foreign 
 Office on the following day. 
 
 My interview with the minister was brief, as 
 there were many waiting for an audience ; he said 
 he had not had an opportunity of reading my 
 work attentively, and inquired if I had visited 
 their institutions of Mettray and Petit-bourg, and 
 he added, that if I had not, he would take care 
 that I had every facility. I, of course, thanked 
 him, and accepted his proffered kindness. I pro- 
 posed shewing him the painting some morning, as 
 it abridged the time for an explanation ; he replied 
 that he would see it next week on his coming to
 
 M. GUIZOT. 33 
 
 town for the winter, and would inform Lord 
 Cowley what day would be most convenient. 
 There is nothing of the wary statesman in the 
 countenance of M. Guizot, which is the very pic- 
 ture of ingenuousness and enlightened benevo- 
 lence. 
 
 M. Guizot having recommended me to inquire 
 for Comte Portalis, the chief patron of Petit- 
 bourg, I went to his hotel, and was informed 
 that he would not be in Paris for two months : 
 the porter referred me to M. Allier, the chief 
 secretary and manager, upon whom I called, and 
 he came in the evening to my apartments to in- 
 spect the plan of the Self-supporting Institution, 
 in which he felt great interest, but appeared to 
 be sceptical as to the possibility of inducing the 
 generality of mankind to act upon the higher 
 principles for a long time to come ; he invited 
 me to visit Petit-bourg on Sunday, he himself 
 was going on Saturday evening. 
 
 Upon arriving at the station, at seven o'clock on 
 Sunday morning, I found M. Allier and his 
 daughter ; he was very unwell, and had been 
 prevented from going the evening before. The 
 establishment is situate close on the railroad to 
 Corbeil, and is about an hour's ride. The edifice 
 c2
 
 34 LETTER IV. 
 
 is a noble chateau, formerly belonging to a 
 Spanish merchant, M. Aguado, Marquis de la Ma- 
 rismas, and the extensive grounds, lawns, gardens, 
 and park-like scenery have an air of great mag- 
 nificence. There are about 130 boys, not all 
 of the working class, but some are the sons of 
 farmers, whose parents pay a small charge for their 
 support. Ninety sleep and take their meals in 
 the same room, in a large building detached from 
 the chateau ; they sleep in hammocks, which are 
 drawn up through the ceiling in the day-time, 
 the contrivance for which is very ingenious, as 
 well as that for ventilating the apartments. The 
 boys are under a kind of military discipline, and 
 as they returned from the village church, march- 
 ing up the grand avenue to the sound of music 
 played by two of the boys, the effect was very 
 striking. At the dinner they had soup, boiled 
 meat, and wine, and as much bread as they 
 chose ; about fifteen ate their dinner of bread 
 and water only, standing : these had committed 
 some faults. Being Sunday, I had no oppor- 
 tunity of seeing them at work, which consists, 
 besides gardening and agriculture, of carpenter- 
 ing, tailoring, shoemaking, and various handicraft 
 employments, on the ground- floor of the large
 
 p-
 
 PETIT-BOURG. 35 
 
 building where they sleep. About thirty or forty 
 of the boys sleep in a room in the chateau, 
 which will be more generally occupied as their 
 members increase. The boys evinced great re- 
 spect and attention towards M. Allier ; and as 
 we passed the lawn in the train on our return 
 to Paris, they had all come down unexpectedly to 
 bid him farewell. 
 
 The chateau itself is ultimately to be devoted 
 partly to a chapel, to religious instruction and to 
 other branches of study, and to lectures on agri- 
 culture, drawing, &c. ; baths also will be formed 
 in the spacious and well-arranged basement. The 
 director will reside in the chateau. 
 
 At present M. Allier is much in Paris, prepar- 
 ing for a grand lottery in aid of the establish- 
 ment, which, with competent funds, could be 
 made sufficiently convenient, without adding to 
 the buildings, for 600 boys. M. Allier said I 
 should find that at Mettray they had much 
 greater facilities. As an evidence of the spirit in 
 which M. Allier conducts the establishment, and 
 the Christian feelings he endeavours to cherish in 
 the boys, I send you a print representing him- 
 self and the cure, with a number of the boys, visit- 
 ing the chamber of a sick person.
 
 36 LETTER IV. 
 
 When we look on this picture, let us pause to 
 inquire whether it presents an example of Catho- 
 lic or Protestant education exclusively ; or whether 
 it is not a Christian education or training appli- 
 cable by both and by all the sects of Christendom ? 
 whether it does not manifest a greater love of God 
 and of our neighbour, which all profess, than the 
 violent controversies about disputed doctrines ; and 
 whether it would not be wise for all to practise 
 these most sacred duties, especially as regards the 
 rising generation, before even an amicable discus- 
 sion of those points upon which a difference of 
 opinion may prevail ? 
 
 Had this system of moral training been prac- 
 tised at Eton, and followed up at our universities, 
 the country would have now been in a very dif- 
 ferent state ; we should have probably beheld a 
 Petit-bourg on every nobleman's estate. 
 
 M. Aguado, the former proprietor of Petit- 
 bourg, was a Spanish merchant, who acquired 
 enormous riches from mines in an estate he had 
 purchased in Asturias ; he resided in a mansion 
 at Paris, in a style of regal splendour, and the 
 rich sky-blue liveries of his servants, so unusual 
 in that metropolis, attracted great attention. 
 Elected five or six years since the principal
 
 o 
 O
 
 M. AGUADO. 37 
 
 governor of Asturias, he went thither to be in- 
 stalled in his office, but on returning over the 
 Pyrenees his cavalcade was overtaken by a tre- 
 mendous storm, and they remained on the moun- 
 tains till all their provisions failed. Many of his 
 attendants fled, but himself and two or three 
 others sought shelter in a hut, where, in conse- 
 quence of his privations and sufferings, he died; 
 and now his palace, once devoted to the enjoy- 
 ment of luxury and grandeur, is the abode of 
 youth, taught the lessons of moderation and con- 
 tentment, and trained in the spirit of Him who 
 " became poor that others might become rich." 
 
 M. Aguado was not himself unmindful of the 
 condition of the people, for having discovered 
 the miserable state of their dwellings on his 
 estate, he had ordered better cottages to be built, 
 and was engaged in other acts of beneficence 
 when his poorer neighbours were deprived of 
 their friend. 
 
 It is customary for visitors to go out to Petit- 
 bourg on a Sunday ; but the day being unfavour- 
 able, the only stranger besides myself was a 
 young man about thirty years of age, short in 
 stature, thin, and of a most forbidding and dis- 
 satisfied countenance. He wore large mustachios,
 
 38 LETTER IV. 
 
 was fashionably dressed, and carried a huge gold- 
 headed cane ; he appeared to take little interest 
 in the Institution, having probably come from 
 mere curiosity. In the course of the day I hap- 
 pened to say a few words in admiration of the 
 character of M. Guizot, and he rather startled me 
 by promptly turning round and emphatically de- 
 claring that there was not a man in all France 
 so much detested. I replied, that in England he 
 was greatly respected. He rejoined loudly, with 
 the expression so peculiar to the French, "Bah" 
 that is the reason why he is so much disliked in 
 his own country. But is it not, I asked, the duty 
 of nations as well as of individuals mutually to 
 cultivate a friendly feeling and to promote each 
 other's welfare ? " Yes," he briefly replied, " but 
 patriotism has its claims." He was evidently one 
 of the War Party, which is chiefly composed of 
 idle young men, playing at cards and dominoes, 
 and smoking cigars at the cafes throughout the 
 day, and at intervals inflaming their enmity 
 against England by reading the puerile and violent 
 articles in the numerous petty journals of Paris : 
 they are by no means a specimen of the general 
 character of the French, but being a compact 
 body, living in Paris, are enabled to make some
 
 LOUIS PHILIPPE. 39 
 
 noise, while the large majority are quietly pur- 
 suing their useful avocations. Should a war 
 break out through the clamours of these political 
 agitators, they would be the fittest subjects for the 
 conscription rather than the peaceful and indus- 
 trious citizen, or the contented peasants and 
 mechanics : if a few hundreds were to pass an 
 inglorious winter-campaign in Algiers, the rem- 
 nant would return with an ardour for warlike 
 enterprise somewhat abated. 
 
 It is to the credit of our own country that no 
 party exists disposed to cherish national antipathy ; 
 the people of all other countries are seeking to 
 improve their own institutions, and such has been 
 the great object of the King of the French, who 
 has successfully devoted himself to the promotion 
 of the prosperity and real glory of France.
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 Paris, Oct. 3, 1845. 
 
 ON Friday, September 19, Dr. Villerme favoured 
 me with a call at the Hotel du Rhin, Place Ven- 
 dome; he apprehended that if I obtained an 
 audience of the King his majesty would express 
 no opinion upon the subject. At my first inter- 
 view with this distinguished writer at his own 
 house, August 26, we had discussed the principles 
 of the plan for two hours, and he now called as 
 he had promised to see the painting, which is 
 placed against the window of my back-room. 
 After the Institution had been described and the 
 merits of the Christian Principle of Union been 
 considered, I observed that at the window of the 
 front-room I could shew him a picture represent- 
 ing the dire effects of competition ; and conduct- 
 ing him thither, I directed his attention to the 
 column of Napoleon and his victories, at the same
 
 MONUMENTS. 41 
 
 time suggesting that the picture would be more 
 complete if the pave was strewed with figures of the 
 dying and the dead, and of the millions of their 
 weeping widows and orphans. But these unhappy 
 concomitants are carefully kept out of sight. It 
 is the classical helmet, the waving plume, and the 
 prancing steed, that captivate the eye the splen- 
 did pageant with which monarchs delight to 
 entertain each other at their respective courts. 
 
 Surely in the approaching intermingling of the 
 nations which the railroads are likely to bring 
 about, it is well worth a serious reflection whether 
 the names of bridges commemorating defeats as 
 well as victories should not be altered, in com- 
 pliance with the laws of hospitality ; that Prussians 
 visiting Paris should not be reminded of their 
 calamities at Jena, nor Frenchmen welcomed to 
 London, of their overthrow at Waterloo. 
 
 Some change might be made with advantage, 
 also, in the localities of our statues and monu- 
 ments. The Duke of York was an amiable man, 
 beloved by his family and by the army, the in- 
 terests and discipline of which he is said to have 
 promoted. Lord Nelson's greatest desire was to 
 be entombed at Westminster Abbey, he reposes 
 in St. Paul's. If the Duke of York's statue was
 
 42 ' LETTER V. 
 
 removed with all due respect to the Horse Guards, 
 and that of Lord Nelson to the Admiralty, their 
 deeds would be equally well remembered, and 
 the profession of arms less prominently exalted in 
 public estimation. Let us suppose the Duke of 
 York's column lowered and widened to bear a 
 colossal statue of Shakspeare, the other sustain- 
 ing the statue of Clarkson, and the different parts 
 of the metropolis adorned with statues of a 
 similar character Sir Isaac Newton, Milton, Lord 
 Bacon, &c., and a statue of Alfred placed in front 
 of Buckingham Palace, the attractions and re- 
 nown of our metropolitan city would be incal- 
 culably increased, and would command the un- 
 mixed admiration of foreigners. 
 
 If the gardens of the Tuileries, in lieu of many 
 of the allegorical statues, were adorned with those 
 of Fenelon, Racine, Massillon, and the numerous 
 authors of celebrity in France, they would be 
 more appropriate objects for the contemplation of 
 the youth who, with their parents, frequent the 
 gardens ; but a beginning appears to have been 
 made in this respect by placing the statue of 
 Moliere in la Rue Richelieu. 
 
 Both the French and the English are apt to 
 look down upon the Dutch as a plodding, un-
 
 NAPOLEON. 43 
 
 imaginative people, and yet have they had the 
 good taste to place a bronze statue of Erasmus 
 in the most conspicuous part of the city of 
 Rotterdam. 
 
 On the pedestals and columns of Napoleon, the 
 spectator should be reminded that once he enter- 
 tained higher aspirations than those prompted by 
 the lust of power. Let some appropriate sentence 
 be selected, among many of a kindred spirit, from 
 his eloquent and stirring manifestos, when, in the 
 ardour of youthful enthusiasm and inflamed by 
 the love of a purer glory, he led his conquering 
 armies into Italy to give liberty to the country of 
 a Scipio and a Brutus, sentiments that would 
 be in vain sought for in the bombastic bulletins 
 towards the close of his military career, after he 
 had been spoiled by 
 
 " The low ambition and the pride of kings." 
 
 Let the following extract from his letter to 
 the Archduke Charles be inscribed on all his 
 monuments, 
 
 " When time shall have settled the present disputes 
 (as sooner or later it must) and even extinguished the 
 resentment of nations." 
 
 And let posterity be reminded, that on the
 
 44 LETTER V. 
 
 evening preceding the battle of Boridino, when 
 80,000 were left dying and dead upon the 
 sanguinary field, he made the following observ- 
 ation, 
 
 "What, in fact, is war? It was the occupation of 
 barbarians, the whole art of which consisted in being 
 the strongest on any given point." 
 
 Upon the Duke of Wellington's monument 
 it ought to be recorded, that when he was asked, 
 if he did not think a victory the best thing in 
 the world, he replied, 
 
 " Next to a defeat, I deem a victory the greatest of 
 calamities;" 
 
 a sentiment that would do credit to the humane 
 and Christian feelings of any man, but as the 
 avowal of the hero of a hundred battles, whose 
 whole life had been spent in the tented field, does 
 him more honour than the concentrated glories of 
 all his military triumphs. 
 
 The aborigines of Australia would seem to 
 entertain a similiar sentiment, for when they en- 
 gage in battle, as soon as one man on either side 
 is killed hostilities are suspended for several days, 
 until they have mourned over and buried the 
 dead. On a future day the fight is renewed and
 
 FRENCH JOURNALS. 45 
 
 terminated in a similar manner. How much 
 more grand and comprehensive are the warlike 
 enterprises of Christendom ! 
 
 I was strongly recommended by a friend to see 
 Comte Montalivet, as he was fully convinced that 
 he would be both able and willing to promote an 
 audience of the King ; but upon going to his 
 hotel, Place Vendome, I found he was not likely 
 to be in town for a month. 
 
 M. Bowes has also favoured me with a call, 
 and was as urgent as before in recommending an 
 application to his majesty. 
 
 Last Saturday, September 27, I devoted to the 
 journals ; and I do not think I omitted calling 
 upon any one of the chief editors, from almost 
 all of whom I had fair promises to inspect the 
 plans : but I am sorry to say only two or three 
 were fulfilled. Like the editors of English news- 
 papers, their support must be preceded by a 
 favourable public opinion the demand must arise 
 before they furnish the supply; sometimes, indeed, 
 they put forth a tentative paragraph, but soon 
 draw back lest they should be found in the 
 position of the " Morning Post," whose editor, 
 Mr. Cobden said, " he had tracked just to the 
 verge of Socialism."
 
 40 LETTER V. 
 
 On Monday I was introduced to M. F. Ville- 
 gardelle of Bordeaux, an author who has written 
 several works on the principle of Association ; one, 
 entitled " Histoire des Idees Sociales," takes a 
 review of the various authors who have advocated 
 similar systems, some of which were unknown to 
 me : Faiguet, Laplombanie, Mercier, Morelly, and 
 Mably. Of Morelly 's " Systeme" he has published 
 a separate volume. 
 
 I have just ordered a small edition of 500 
 of the " Christian Commonwealth," and the like 
 number in French, to be printed; the French 
 edition will be useful to those who have the large 
 English copies. I am now on a different side of 
 the Seine, where I have taken rooms for the 
 greater convenience of seeing some of the clergy 
 and other influential parties. My bed-room con- 
 tains food for reflection ; but it is something like 
 a French dish, or the table d'hote, made up of 
 heterogeneous ingredients : at the foot of my bed 
 is a crucifix ; on the mantelpiece a bust of Vol- 
 taire ; and opposite, Napoleon on a rampant horse 
 Humility and Faith, Sarcastic Infidelity, and 
 Worldly Ambition. 
 
 I have been all the day inquiring in vain for the 
 Abbe Ledreuil, the devoted friend of the dis-
 
 M. VEYSSlfcRE. 47 
 
 tressed workmen, seeking employment for them 
 and pleading their cause with impassioned elo- 
 quence in the pulpit. I am informed that his 
 language was so strong against the wrongs of the 
 poor and the neglect of the rich that his preach- 
 ing was suspended. I am sorry to find that the 
 eloquent Larcordaire, an influential prelate, is 
 absent. 
 
 I have had several interesting interviews with 
 le Prelat Veyssiere, the learned editor of " 1'Ami 
 de la Religion," who, with another distinguished 
 prelate, came and inspected the plan for a long 
 time, and on leaving expressed themselves much 
 gratified, but feared that it could not be realized 
 at present. M. Veyssiere asked me upon intro- 
 ducing this clergyman for the paper which I 
 had before shewn him, describing the general 
 principle upon which the plan was founded. I 
 made frequent use of this document of which I 
 send you a copy : 
 
 " II y a une vraie theorie de la Societe qui nous sup- 
 poserons composee de cinquante families, separees de la 
 societe generale, et decidees a clever leurs enfants dans 
 les principes du Christianisme, et dans Famour de Dieu 
 avec tout leur coeur, et aimant leurs semblables comme 
 eux-memes. Les forts, soit d'esprit, soit de corps
 
 48 LETTER V. 
 
 aideront les plus faibles : alors il y aura plus d' affection 
 et de sympathie parmi tous. 
 
 " Tels sont les rudiments de philosophic morale. 
 
 " Les plus faibles e"tant ainsi rendus moms faibles 
 on produirait plus de toutes les manieres. 
 
 " Ainsi les rudiments de 1'economie politique sont en 
 accord avec les rudiments de philosophic morale et con- 
 stituent une science. 
 
 " Aucune verite ni aucune science peut-etre opposee 
 a une autre verite ou science. Les systemes d'econo- 
 mie poh'tique done qui enforcent la necessite de la 
 concurrence si contraire aux motifs Chretiens, et aux 
 resultats de 1' experience ni s'accordent ni avec la 
 Religion ni avec la Philosophic. 
 
 " La vraie theorie de la Societe a beau etre bien 
 comprise, cependant il est difficile de la mettre imme- 
 diatement en pratique, parceque les differentes classes 
 n'ont pas les memes habitudes. II est propose de 
 commence avec une seule classe de la Societe, les 
 ouvriers, faisant une institution modele de trois cent 
 families. 
 
 " Le clerge, la noblesse, les honimes de talent et 
 les riches, sont invites a aider par leur influence, par 
 leurs talents et leur argent, a 1'etablir. 
 
 " Done toutes les classes, de la plus haute jusqu'a la 
 plus basse, prendant plaisir dans cette grande oeuvre 
 Chretienne, et on ne peut douter cl'apres la bienveillance 
 eclairee de votre excellent Roi, qu'elle sera honoree de 
 son patronnage royal."
 
 ARCHBISHOP OF PARIS. 49 
 
 This paper I also laid before the Abbe Legrand, 
 with whom I had a most agreeable, I may say, 
 friendly interview, and he submitted it to the 
 Archbishop of Paris, to whom he was kind 
 enough to introduce me at the Infirmerie de 
 Marie Therese. Upon that occasion the arch- 
 bishop, after I had presented my work and ex- 
 plained some part of the plan, began to recount 
 all the various charities the Catholics had esta- 
 blished, and appeared to be prejudiced against 
 anything emanating from a Protestant : he added, 
 that as he did not understand English he could 
 derive no information from my work; but if I 
 would see Dr. Wiseman, then in Paris at 1'Hotel 
 de 1'Europe, and he thought well of the plan, the 
 clergy of Paris should examine it. 
 
 Gratified with this reference, I returned and 
 wrote immediately to Dr. Wiseman, repeating the 
 observation of the archbishop, and pointing out 
 the great advantages of such a plan, not only to 
 the poor on the Continent, but especially to the 
 people of Ireland, where it was so much needed. 
 I sent him also a copy of my work. I went three 
 or four times to the hotel, but, early and late, he 
 was out engaged with the clergy, of whom there 
 was a large assemblage in Paris, in consequence 
 
 D
 
 50 LETTER V. 
 
 of important religious ceremonies at this period 
 of the year. Thus disappointed in meeting with 
 him, I resolved to be at the hotel one morning 
 before nine o'clock; he had gone to the Church 
 of St. Roch, whither I proposed going, but within 
 a hundred yards of the hotel I met a clergyman, 
 who had been making the same inquiries as my- 
 self, returning, accompanied by a tall, portly 
 ecclesiastic : I followed them to the hotel and 
 found it was Dr. Wiseman. Presenting him with 
 my card, and reminding him of the letter, he 
 immediately invited me to his apartments. He 
 began by observing, that I appeared to wish to 
 break up the present villages, and to form the 
 people into detached congregations of Catholic, 
 Church of England, Wesleyan, &c. &c. I replied, 
 that I was not anxious for such a division if the 
 accomplishment of the object, that of securing to 
 the people regular employment, just remuneration 
 for then* labour, with moral and religious train- 
 ing for their children, could be secured upon 
 any better principle. He then referred to several 
 successful examples of similar Catholic establish- 
 ments, and particularly dwelt upon the Reduc- 
 tions in Paraguay. I observed that the plan was 
 precisely upon the same principle adapted to other
 
 REV. DR. WISEMAN. 51 
 
 countries, and especially to Ireland, and modified 
 according to the existing circumstances of the 
 times with the scientific appliances and educa- 
 tional improvements of a more enlightened age. 
 All that I asked for was earnest investigation. 
 Dr. Wiseman promised to write to the archbishop 
 on the subject.
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 Paris, Oct. 15, 1845. 
 
 FINDING, upon inquiry at his hotel, that le 
 Comte Mole, the President of la Societe d' Adop- 
 tion pour les Enfans Trouves, would not be in 
 Paris before the winter, I called upon M. Louis 
 Hamelin, the general agent of the Society, with 
 whom I had a long and most interesting conver- 
 sation. He is very anxious to avail himself of 
 every information for the improvement of their 
 institution, and had been reading many of our 
 English authors who had written upon the subject 
 of Charitable Establishments. He gave me their 
 last Report, by which it appears that, in conse- 
 quence of the neglected state of the infants put 
 out to nurse, arising from the mercenary character 
 of the nurses, the deficiency of their subsequent 
 education, and the poverty, tyranny, and sometimes 
 the immorality, of the masters to whom they
 
 M. LOUIS HAMELIN. 5S 
 
 were apprenticed, the Society had proposed to place 
 them in an Agricultural Colony, established since 
 1828 by M. Bazin, au Mesnil-Saint-Firmin, pres 
 Breteuil. This arrangement has been made only 
 a few months, and the establishment of Agricul- 
 tural Colonies appears to have become a favourite 
 project in France, owing to the great success of 
 the colony of Mettray. 
 
 When I have been reminded of the difficulty of 
 obtaining money for the Self-supporting Institu- 
 tion, I have invariably replied that I had no fears 
 on that head, for, when once the subject was 
 thoroughly understood by the public, money would 
 flow in abundantly ; that some time before the 
 railroad between Liverpool and Manchester was 
 formed, few were willing to venture one hundred 
 pounds : my only apprehension was, that efficient, 
 religious, and self-devoted managers might not 
 be appointed. There is one passage in the Report 
 in which I so entirely concur, and which I think 
 is so much in accordance with your own views 
 that I will copy it : 
 
 " Pour quiconque s'est occupe de fondations de la na- 
 ture de celle qui fait 1'object de ce compte rendu, une 
 difficulte des plus graves se presente tout d'abord, c'est 
 ^organisation du personnel ; tant de qualites sont neces-
 
 54 LETTER VI. 
 
 saires pour Paccomplissement des devoirs a remplir, et 
 il y a si peu d'avantages materiels en compensation ! 
 Si le devouement purement personnel peut inspirer 
 quelques individus isoles, suffira-t-il a un recrutement 
 continu et devant repondre a des besoins chaque jour 
 plus etendus? Ne faut-il pas chercher ailleurs un 
 element plus fecond et dont les effets plus durables 
 survivent aux individus? M. Eazin et les personnes 
 qui prenaient interet a sa fondation, ont pense que le 
 sentiment religieux pouvait seul vivifier 1'ouvre, et qu'il 
 etait necessaire de substituer 1'existence successive d'une 
 association a ^existence purement temporaire des in- 
 dividus ; mais, en meme temps, ils ont pense que cette 
 association, destinee a feconder une entreprise de 
 notre epoque, devait se former avec les idees de notre 
 epoque." 
 
 M. Hamelin introduced me to M. Alfred 
 Blanche, Secretary of the Superior Council, and 
 residing on the establishment. With M. Blanche 
 I remained a considerable time, and he also ex- 
 pressed himself greatly interested in the plan ; he 
 urged me to call upon M. Coquerel, an eminent 
 Protestant clergyman, upon M. Edward Thayer, 
 but above all upon the Vicomte Thury, whose 
 address he gave me. I called upon the latter on 
 the following day, as I supposed, but the address 
 proved to be that of his brother, M. Paul de
 
 M. DE BERV ANGER. 55 
 
 Thury, who however entered with much spirit 
 into the consideration of the Self-supporting In- 
 stitution. He gave me some numbers of the 
 " Annales de la Charite," to which he has con- 
 tributed several articles, including an interesting 
 account of the Poor Colonies in Holland. He 
 offered to accompany me to some of the institutions 
 in Paris, and we went together to one in la Rue 
 deVaugirard, called "1'CEuvre de Saint Nicolas," 
 under the direction of a most benevolent prelate, 
 M..de Bervanger, which was commenced in 1827 
 in another quarter of the city, upon a very small 
 scale, and was considerably enlarged and removed 
 to its present locality a few years afterwards 
 through the munificence of le Comte Victor de 
 Noailles. There are 600 boys from ten to fifteen 
 years of age, who receive a Christian education 
 with elementary and professional instruction ; by 
 professional is meant learning some art or trade. 
 For orphans, twenty francs per month are paid ; 
 for children whose parents are living, twenty -five 
 francs. M. de Bervanger occupies apartments, 
 so that his office looks into the court-yard of 
 the entrance, and his sitting-room overlooks 
 another large space devoted to gymnastics and 
 surrounded by the dormitories and workshops.
 
 56 LETTER VI. 
 
 There are a variety of employments, besides 
 shoe-making, tailoring, silk-weaving, chasing on 
 bronze, clock-making, lace-making, designing on 
 stuffs, mathematical instrument making, jewellery 
 in gold and silver, engraving on gold and silver, 
 mounting in bronze, saddlery and harness-making, 
 toy-making, articles in steel and hardware, paint- 
 ing on porcelain. 
 
 One hundred and fifty children are now oc- 
 cupied in the various works enumerated : they 
 have also a very elegant chapel, with an excellent 
 organ. 
 
 He has another establishment at Issy of smaller 
 dimensions, in a house formerly occupied by the 
 celebrated Cardinal Fleury. This is a kind of in- 
 fant school, containing children from eight to ten 
 years of age, and is also used as an infirmary for 
 the invalids of the Parisian establishment : it is 
 surrounded with a large garden, supplying vegeta- 
 bles and fruit for both establishments ; and there 
 is also a large piece of water where the children 
 bathe. The building in Paris was arranged by 
 M. de Bervanger himself, who has very com- 
 prehensive views regarding the education and 
 management of the poor. He is rather stout, 
 remarkably cheerful, and, I understand, is never
 
 CITEAU. 57 
 
 subdued by the difficulties he has to encounter : 
 he laughed heartily at his own attempts to talk 
 English with me. 
 
 I called upon the Protestant minister, M. 
 Coquerel, but he was too much occupied to assist 
 me, which I regretted the more as he speaks 
 English very fluently, and is said to possess con- 
 siderable influence. There was a number of 
 persons waiting to see him at the time. 
 
 Last evening I spent two or three hours at the 
 Hotel du Prince with Mr. Arthur Young, son of 
 the celebrated writer on Agriculture. Mr. Young 
 is the proprietor of Citeau, a chateau and large 
 estate of 1500 acres near Dijon, where an unsuc- 
 cessful experiment has been made in carrying out 
 Fourier's plan : at present there are not more 
 than forty persons on the premises. Mr. Young 
 appears equally confident of the truth of Fourier's 
 system, and satisfactorily accounts for the recent 
 failure. The theory of the steam-engine is no 
 less true though a village blacksmith may fail in 
 his endeavours to construct one. 
 
 It is scarcely possible not to be struck with 
 
 the remarkable contrast exhibited between the 
 
 general character of the inhabitants of Paris and 
 
 those of London. In London we have gorgeous 
 
 D 2
 
 58 LETTER VI. 
 
 equipages and splendid liveries in juxtaposition 
 with the most squalid wretchedness, an incessant 
 bustling anxiety in the pursuit of wealth, less for 
 its rational enjoyment than for the distinction it 
 confers, and often from the mere force of habit 
 or desire of accumulation. 
 
 The Parisians, on the contrary, are a pleasure- 
 seeking people. When the tradesman has ac- 
 quired sufficient to enable him to enjoy the cheap 
 luxuries and amusements with which the metro- 
 polis abounds, he resigns his avocation to another, 
 who in due time makes way for a third, and thus 
 wealth becomes more widely diffused. I have 
 not seen one man, woman, or child without shoes 
 and stockings or in rags. The desire of amassing 
 wealth may also be diminished by the law com- 
 pelling a parent to bequeath two-thirds of his 
 property, equally divided, among his children, 
 and allowing him one-third only to will as he 
 may prefer. That a fear, however, exists, that 
 under this aspect of satisfaction and prosperity 
 there may be no solid or permanent foundation, 
 will be inferred from the immense number of 
 soldiers to be found in all parts of the city. 
 
 There is more urbanity between the different 
 classes, and, in consequence, a less marked dis-
 
 CHARACTER OF THE FRENCH. 59 
 
 tinction. Everywhere there appears to be cheer- 
 fulness and activity. A friend of mine who 
 has resided long in Paris remarked, " I. like the 
 French for their love of children." I have often 
 derived pleasure from observing this interest 
 manifested by families in the gardens of the 
 Tuileries. 
 
 If there is any real cause for the very general 
 complaint in our own country, that property is 
 concentrated in a few hands, we should do well 
 to enact some law similar to that of the French. 
 Certain it is that, in Ireland especially, millions 
 are born to a condition worse than that of slavery, 
 since there are none who feel interested in their 
 well-being, and worse even than that of the wild 
 Indian, who is not interdicted by his fellow-man 
 from exercising that command over the beasts of 
 the forest, and the birds of the air, delegated to 
 him by his Creator. 
 
 In my brief and casual visit to France, it would 
 be idle to venture an opinion of my own upon the 
 real character of the inhabitants ; but some of 
 the English who have resided long among them 
 assert that there is much less of real friendship 
 and sincerity exercised even towards each other 
 than in England ; that they display more sympathy
 
 60 LETTER VI. 
 
 in mutual enjoyment than for the calamities of 
 others for any charitable object they are not so 
 ready to contribute, even according to their 
 means, as the English ; that, in general, they are 
 more selfish and egotistical. Both French and 
 English, however, fervently cherish the desire of 
 independence, or to live upon the labour of others 
 without the obligation of doing anything them- 
 selves ; and this, as well as most of the evils in- 
 flicted upon society, is a necessary consequence of 
 European institutions contradicting European pro- 
 fessions the former worldly, the latter Christian. 
 The man of fortune, whose duties become more 
 numerous and imperative with the extent of his 
 possessions, deems himself " independent," and 
 seeks his pleasures in distant lands, esteeming it 
 an honour and a distinction that he is exempt 
 from all exertion, and that every thing is done 
 for him, while of all the classes he is in reality 
 the most " dependent."* 
 
 * As an illustration of the light estimation in which the 
 duties annexed to property are sometimes held by its possessors, 
 we quote the following from one of two admirable works 
 which are highly deserving of the attention, especially at the 
 present crisis, of every friend to humanity, " The Perils of the 
 Nation," and the " Remedies," &c. 
 
 " Nor have we regarded the land itself with any more pa- 
 ternal eye. Instead of being ' tilled,' according to the very first
 
 LOVE OF INDEPENDENCE. 61 
 
 This love or pride of independence pervades all 
 ranks. In England it is encouraged in the work- 
 ing classes in order to keep down the poor-rates, 
 and as the chief motive to industry ; but if suc- 
 cessful exertions are a subject for pride, then is it 
 a degradation to receive relief, and another pang 
 
 commandment given to Adam in his fallen condition, a very 
 large proportion is systematically left in its natural state, even 
 although the poor may be perishing on every side for want of 
 the employment it ought to yield, and the sustenance it ought 
 to afford them. We have traversed portions of the wide do- 
 mains of a very amiable nobleman, within sight of the metro- 
 polis (Dublin), and have beheld nothing on every side but 
 grass, which was mown each summer, not by the neighbouring 
 poor, but by labourers who thronged in from Connaught and 
 Munster. And we have conversed with poor men dwelling 
 near, and have found them miserable, half-emp^ed, half- 
 starved, hopeless, and pauperised ; while all that was needed to 
 raise them to life, and hope, and happiness, was nothing more 
 than permission to cultivate, at a fair rent, a very few of the 
 thousands of acres which surrounded them on every side ! 
 
 " Now all that was needed here, was a higher sense of the 
 landlord's duties and obligations. The wealthy owner of the 
 estate was amiable and benevolent ; but he left the letting of his 
 land, like other landlords, to his steward and his solicitor. 
 These took care to provide the best tenants that they could ; 
 and, so that .a fair rent was obtained, they cared not whether 
 the land remained in grass or was cultivated ; or whether the 
 former employed the poor of the vicinity, or Irish labourers, to 
 get in his crops. All was placid indolence; meanwhile the 
 owner spent his ample revenues between Belgrave Square and 
 Naples ; and the wretched beings who inhabited a few ruinous 
 cottages in the parish, remained in squalid misery and half- 
 starvation."
 
 02 LETTER VI. 
 
 is added to the sufferings of those compelled by 
 misfortune, sickness, or any other infirmity, to 
 subsist upon the bounty of others. If it is the 
 duty of one member to sympathise with and 
 assist another, it is the duty of the member re- 
 lieved to manifest a corresponding sympathy ; but 
 under our compulsory system of poor-laws, there 
 is not much Christian sympathy to be expected 
 either in giving or receiving. 
 
 Nothing proves more strikingly how far we 
 have in practice wandered from the true theory of 
 society, than the universality of the desire to be- 
 come " an independent member of society," as it is 
 termed a phrase which implies a contradiction, 
 a dismemberment, or state of dissolution. How 
 different is the idea of the real nature of society 
 conveyed by the expression, "a Member of So- 
 ciety ! " the member of a body in which, as in the 
 human body, all the members sympathise with 
 each other, and all are more or less affected by the 
 good or bad condition of any single inember 
 the weakness of one being repaired by the greater 
 efforts of another or of all. 
 
 In the state of society we contemplate the 
 strong will be encouraged to support the weak, 
 the intelligent the less gifted, a child born blind
 
 CHRISTIAN TRAINING. 63 
 
 will become an object upon which to exercise 
 the moral feelings of other children, who, in- 
 structed not theoretically only but trained, in the 
 practice of their duties to God and man, would 
 be delighted to assist the blind, the infirm, and 
 the aged.
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 Paris, October 17, 1845. 
 
 M. GUIZOT having stated that he would com- 
 municate with me through Lord Cowley, I am 
 precluded from making any direct application at 
 the Foreign Office, and as the affair of the 
 treachery of the Algerines is absorbing all the 
 attention of the government, my friends think 
 there is no chance, for some time to come, of ob- 
 taining another interview with the minister. 
 Such is the indignation aroused by the treachery 
 of the Algerines that volunteers are said to be 
 coming in from all quarters, burning with im- 
 patience to avenge the death of their countrymen. 
 This kind of sympathy is natural enough under the 
 European training for war, in which deceit and re- 
 venge are deemed lawful, though both the belliger- 
 ents may profess Christianity. But even according 
 to those codes of honour, from which the principles
 
 TREACHERY OF THE ALGERINES. 65 
 
 of Christianity and the duties it enjoins are ex- 
 cluded, there is inconsistency. A general deceives 
 when he tacitly makes a feint and leads his enemy 
 into an ambush ; and it is quite certain that the 
 treachery of the Algerines would have been far 
 more criminal had they really intended what they 
 proposed, and, instead of destroying the detach- 
 ment sent to profit by their supposed treachery 
 towards their chief, they had actually betrayed 
 him into the hands of his enemy. 
 
 On the 7th of October I addressed a copy of 
 my work to the King, and a letter to his Aide- 
 de-camp, requesting the honour of an audience of 
 his Majesty on the subject of the work, and pro- 
 ceeded myself to the palace of Saint-Cloud; I 
 was shewn into an ante-room, and having sent 
 up my card with the book and letter to the Aide-de- 
 camp, a military officer soon came down and said 
 that the Aide-de-camp had directed him to inform 
 me, that the work and my request for an audience 
 should be laid before his Majesty, and that I 
 should be acquainted with the result. He readily 
 assented to my proposal of sending the trans- 
 parent painting, which I had left with my ser- 
 vant at the porter's lodge, to the ante-room, as I 
 was anxious that his majesty should see it while
 
 06 LETTER VII. 
 
 the King of the Belgians was staying at Saint- 
 Cloud. He also informed me, that if I wished to 
 send a copy of the work to the King of the Bel- 
 gians, it should be forwarded through his Aide-de- 
 camp, to whom a letter must be forwarded. For 
 this purpose I returned to the hotel, and wrote a 
 letter with the best materials that I could there 
 find, and sent it with the book to the lodge, ad- 
 dressed to his Majesty. 
 
 No reply having been received on the 12th 
 October I wrote again to the Aide-de-camp, request- 
 ing the favour of his opinion as to the probability 
 of any audience being granted at all, and if so, 
 whether it would be likely to take place before 
 the 19th. As no communication was received on 
 the 15th I determined to go again to Saint-Cloud, 
 to solicit an interview with the Aide-de-camp. 
 On my arrival at the palace he was breakfasting 
 with the King ; but my card was taken to him, 
 and he sent word that he would see me at twelve, 
 the hour at which the King rises from the table 
 and the party separates. I had, therefore, half 
 an hour to wait, and I was somewhat disap- 
 pointed in observing the painting rolled up as I 
 had left it in the corner ; and this pictorial repre- 
 sentation of the way back to Paradise partly
 
 MONOPOLY. 67 
 
 hidden by a flag, the staff of which was sur- 
 mounted by the figure of a cock. I had visited 
 the country but once before, and then for so 
 short a time, that I had continued to associate in 
 my mind the eagle with the military genius of 
 France, and the imagination would have been 
 somewhat more reconciled to an obstruction from 
 that noble bird. As I reflected upon this miser- 
 able substitute it appeared to be more suitable as 
 a crest for the political economist, the emblem at 
 once of competition and monopoly. Loud as the 
 political economists exclaim against monopoly, 
 well do they know that free trade, under existing 
 circumstances, leads to the monopoly of wealth, 
 to leviathan establishments impoverishing and 
 crushing all minor efforts, the consequences of 
 which have been so well described by M. Schut- 
 zenberger, the mayor of Strasbourg. 
 
 " Dans ce rapport, M. Schutzenberger demontre 
 d'abord que la concurrence illimitee et sans rgle, en 
 conduisant droit au monopole des grands etablissements, 
 amenera la destruction progressive des classes moyennes ; 
 qu'elle est deja le ferment de toutes les crises indus- 
 trielles, la cause de 1'instabilite de toutes les positions, et 
 par suite celle du Pauperisme, cette lepre des societes 
 modernes ; il etablit avec autorite que cette lepre doit
 
 68 LETTER VII. 
 
 surtout etre attribute au defaut de constitution de la 
 commune, et que le remede est tout entier dans V asso- 
 ciation des interets et dans 1'organisation de 1'industrie.'' 
 
 That the unrestrained commercial intercourse 
 of nations will put an end to the horrors of war 
 few will doubt, but that that blessing could be 
 more speedily and more effectually attained, with 
 a great and immediate diminution of all the evils 
 of society, by a prior reformation of our internal 
 policy, is equally certain. 
 
 Let us suppose free trade all over the world, 
 will it raise the value of labour ? Will it prevent 
 the people from sending their offspring to un- 
 healthy, wearisome toil, for ten hours in the 
 day ? Will it not convert England into one large 
 forge or Cyclop's den, and consign more by tens 
 of thousands of young children to mines and 
 spindles ? 
 
 I could have wished for permission to remove 
 this ensign of war to another part of the room, or 
 to have substituted the painting, had it been of 
 the same form, for the flag itself. What, if wor- 
 thy of the Napoleon of the Peace, it had been 
 borne before his Majesty and unfurled to the 
 gaze of the delighted multitude at the Place Con- 
 corde ! Various were the reflections that crowded
 
 CONSECRATION OF COLOURS. 69 
 
 upon my mind ; I remembered an address last 
 year, by members of the Peace Society, to the 
 Bishop of Winchester, upon the occasion of his 
 consecrating the colours of a regiment in his own 
 cathedral city. Were the colours before me con- 
 secrated? WTiy should not the painting rather 
 be consecrated ? that, at least, would be no dese- 
 cration of religion. If I remember right, the 
 address to the Bishop was signed by some mem- 
 bers of the Society of Friends, who, with all their 
 virtues, and they are great and many, have not 
 shewn themselves inimical to mercenary pursuits, 
 one of the most fruitful sources of crime, misery, 
 and war. 
 
 While indulging in these reflections the door 
 opened, and the Aide-de-camp entered with my 
 card in his hand, stating that he had not heard 
 either of my letter or of the work. I mentioned the 
 time of my first application, and he replied, "that 
 the Aides-de-camp were changed every week, that 
 books were presented through the Secretary, 
 and applications for audiences only were made 
 through the Aide-de-camp. He wrote down the 
 title of the work, and promised to inform me on the 
 following morning if it had been laid before his 
 Majesty. He said that numerous applications for
 
 70 LETTER VII. 
 
 audiences were made, and weeks, and sometimes 
 months, elapsed before the decision of the King 
 was made known. The next day I received the 
 following letter : 
 
 "Palais de Saint Cloud, le 15 Octobre, 1845. 
 " Monsieur, 
 
 " Je me suis assure que votre ouvrage, intitule, ( The 
 Christian Commonwealth/ avois ete mis sous les yeux 
 du roi. Vous recevrez probablement tres prochainement 
 une reponse a la sujet. 
 
 " Votre demande d' audience a ete egalement soumis 
 a son majeste, qui n'a point encore fait connaitre ses 
 intentions. 
 
 ( ' Je m'empresserai, lorsqu'il y aura lieu, de vous les 
 faire connaitre. 
 
 "Veuillez agreer, Monsieur, 1'assurance de ma con- 
 sideration distingu6e. 
 
 " Le G al Aide-de-camp du Roi, 
 
 "A. DE CHABONNER."
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 Mettray, Oct. 20, 1845. 
 
 As it appeared doubtful whether I should suc- 
 ceed in obtaining the honour of the audience of 
 the King for some time to come, if at all, I left 
 the messagerie on the morning of Saturday, 
 October J8, in the diligence for Orleans, en 
 route to Tours and Mettray ; and as we were to 
 be conveyed on the railway to Orleans I expected 
 we should alight at the station and take our com- 
 fortable seats in the railroad carriages. I was 
 indulging in this pleasing expectation the more, 
 as the coupe had been taken for some days, and 
 there was nothing left for me but a middle seat 
 dans Z'interieur. After some delay at the station, 
 the whole body of the diligence, with its im- 
 mense luggage and seventeen or eighteen pas- 
 sengers, was suddenly lifted up in the air like a 
 bale of wool, and we were thus transferred to a
 
 /3 LETTER VIII. 
 
 truck upon the train. We passed through an 
 agreeable country diversified with hill and dale, 
 and in about three hours reached Orleans, where 
 we had to submit again to the same process ; the 
 diligence was placed upon another set of wheels, 
 and away we started for Tours. Of course, no 
 opportunity was afforded for walking through the 
 city of Orleans. Often as our countrymen are 
 reproached for taciturnity, not infrequently the 
 most indomitable silence is to be met with among 
 the French. One advantage attending a journey 
 in the public carriages, is the slight compensation 
 for one's cramped position, unless ensconced in 
 the coupe, that of taking what I consider the 
 best of French lessons, namely, listening to and 
 conversing with the natives ; but no such agreeable 
 relief was to accrue to me this day from my doz- 
 ing, dumb companions, and joyful was the sound 
 when, at five o'clock, we entered the town of 
 Blois and a resting-place was announced : here 
 we were to stretch our limbs for awhile, and ob- 
 tain some refreshment, from which we had been 
 debarred the whole day. We sat down to as ex- 
 cellent a table d'hote as I had met with in France ; 
 there was a profusion of dishes, and the charge, 
 including wine, was only three francs. Having
 
 TOURS. 73 
 
 touched incidentally upon this subject, allow me 
 to add, that we are by no means entitled to that 
 great distinction in a superiority of appetite 
 ascribed to us by foreigners, especially by the 
 French, who are at least our equals. When the 
 dish a V Anglais, plus solide et plus naturel, per- 
 forms its revolution round the table, it is more 
 frequently arrested by a Frenchman, so that an 
 interchange of tastes appears to be going on. 
 Dining at the table d'hole at 1' Hotel Mirabeau, a 
 short time since, I sat next to a fashionable Eng- 
 lishman, who was loud in his praises of French 
 cookery, and remarked, that in all good society in 
 England, a French cook formed part of the esta- 
 blishment. Notwithstanding this oracular decision 
 I shall always consider your society, and that of 
 other rectors, as the very best, whether the kitchen 
 is ruled or not by a French cook. 
 
 We had been informed that we should reach 
 Tours by seven o'clock ; but we did not leave 
 Blois before six, and hour after hour dragged on, 
 and the weary and jaded travellers did not com- 
 plete their journey before eleven o'clock. I went 
 directly to the Hotel de Londres, but the gates 
 were barred, and all the inmates reposing ; I 
 rang and knocked long and loud. At last the
 
 74 LETTER VIII. 
 
 gate was opened by a stout boy, with his eyes 
 scarcely open ; he led me to the porter's lodge, 
 where we had to rouse a female, who conducted 
 me over an immense building in search of an un- 
 occupied room. At length one was found on 
 high, and the accommodation was rough enough, 
 but I had abundant assurance that on the mor- 
 row I should have an apartment that was superbe. 
 The garqon was left to arrange the bed, which 
 was wholly unprepared, and to put the room in 
 order ; while thus engaged the real porter hastily 
 entered, and charged him with some supposed 
 neglect. The poor boy, as if conscious of his 
 innocence, raised himself up, and extending his 
 arms with energy, and by no means ungracefully, 
 vindicated himself in a style so animated as to 
 drive away all his symptoms of drowsiness. 
 
 I had hastened to Tours on the Saturday in the 
 hope of coming over to Mettray the same even- 
 ing, for the purpose of spending a Sunday at the 
 colony, when the boys and the place itself are 
 seen to the best advantage, and when the moral 
 objects, as well as the religious observances, are 
 better exemplified. As there was no conveyance 
 before ten o'clock I paid an early visit to the 
 cathedral, which is a magnificent structure, and
 
 METTRAY. 75 
 
 enjoyed the public walks along the banks of the 
 river as well as upon the fine bridge at the end 
 of the High Street. We left Tours at ten o'clock, 
 and after a pleasant ride of about half an hour 
 through a country, in which the fields, divided by 
 hedge-rows, and the general aspect of the trees, 
 strongly reminded me of English scenery, I was 
 set down at the inn belonging to, and within a 
 few hundred yards of the colony, which is about 
 a mile distant from the village of Mettray. The 
 hotel, though humble, was more convenient and 
 clean than the provincial inns in France generally 
 are. I went to the colony, and upon inquiring 
 for M. De Metz, one of the young men was sent 
 with me to his residence, a fine mansion, with 
 lawns and gardens in the English style, and about 
 two or three fields from the colony. Having 
 given him my letters of introduction he invited 
 me to breakfast at eleven o'clock. His daughter 
 speaks English very well, and is under the tuition 
 of an English lady. After breakfast M. De Metz 
 and his party examined my plan, of which I pre- 
 sented him with a lithographic print, as well as 
 the Work ; he observed that the idea was pre- 
 cisely their own, but adapted to families instead 
 of boys, and he suggested some alteration in the
 
 76 LETTER VIII. 
 
 disposition of the buildings. Often did M. De 
 Metz in the course of our conversation dwell upon 
 the importance of employment in agriculture as 
 one of the essential means of moral improvement, 
 and of the impossibility of blending it with that 
 of other avocations under the existing arrange- 
 ments of society; and certainly when we consider 
 that in London there are two millions crowded 
 together, in Paris one million, and the state of 
 smoky Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, &c., and the 
 dense population of other cities in the manufac- 
 turing districts both in England and France, 
 employment in the fields to any great extent 
 appears to be altogether hopeless. 
 
 The causes of mankind possessing the earth in 
 a manner that debars them of many of its blessings, 
 can only be accounted for by that tenacity with 
 which they cling to old customs and usages to 
 which they have been habituated, long after the 
 necessity for a change has become evident. The 
 privileges and immunities of towns in the middle 
 ages, and the shelter afforded by them from the 
 lawless violence of the Barons, led to their growth, 
 and the facilities for finding employment in them 
 occasioned their gradual extension. 
 
 The contrast between a town and country resi-
 
 M. DE METZ. 77 
 
 dence is more striking in France than in England : 
 in England we have generally more domestic 
 comforts in our houses, and more contiguous so- 
 ciety in the country, than can be found in the 
 localities of the grand but cold and cheerless cha- 
 teaux of France, few and far removed from each 
 other ; but then their metropolis is far more 
 attractive by its splendour, its varied amusements 
 and cheap luxuries, and by the social character 
 and general urbanity of its inhabitants, less es- 
 tranged from each other by the distinctions of 
 rank and fortune, while the want of those do- 
 mestic comforts so highly esteemed by the English 
 is not so much felt, because unknown. 
 
 M. De Metz has for his coadjutor the Vicomte 
 De Bretigneres de Courteilles, upon whose estate 
 the colony has been erected, and whose residence 
 is very near, his garden adjoining part of the 
 establishment. 
 
 After much discussion upon the general prin- 
 ciples of our respective plans, in which M. De 
 Metz evinced so much warm benevolence and 
 such comprehensiveness of mind that I was pre- 
 pared to expect no ordinary pleasure in viewing 
 his establishment, the whole party walked to the 
 colony, the description of which I must reserve 
 for my next letter.
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 Mettray, October 19, 1845. 
 
 IN order to enable you to comprehend more 
 clearly any description of this remarkable institu- 
 tion, I have enclosed two lithographic prints* 
 out of a set sold at the store representing the 
 principal edifices. The ten houses, five of which 
 stand on each side of the square, were built by 
 the colonists themselves, and at the expense of 
 private individuals whose names are inscribed 
 upon some of them each house is occupied by 
 forty boys who are denominated a family, having 
 at the head a young man who is styled un Parens, 
 with two Sous-chefs who act with him and for 
 him in his absence, attending the boys at their 
 meals and when retiring to their hammocks : 
 there are also two Freres aines, whose duty it is 
 to set a good example and give good counsel to 
 
 * For one, see Frontispiece.
 
 DWELLINGS OF THE COLONISTS. 79 
 
 the rest ; these have a red riband tied round the 
 right arm, and are elected every month by the 
 boys themselves out of their own number, subject 
 to the approbation of the Directors : but their 
 choice has invariably fallen upon those best qua- 
 lified. They are elected by secret ballot, and the 
 reason assigned for this is that the Directors may 
 become acquainted with the real sentiments of the 
 family. 
 
 The ground floor of each house is a workshop, 
 the first and second floors sleeping apartments. 
 The elder boys sleep on the first floor, the 
 younger on the second floor : with each section 
 there is a Sous-chef. The first floor is also used 
 as a refectory, the hammocks being hung up care- 
 fully during the day and the bars upon which 
 they were fastened removed. There is a box for 
 the boy's clothes just above each hammock : the 
 boys sleep alternately with their heads towards 
 the wall, so that they cannot converse with each 
 other ; at the end of the room is the bed of the 
 Sous-chef. 
 
 The Directors justly consider that the parental 
 affection and solicitude in families are the natural 
 means appointed by Providence for promoting 
 both private and general morality ; but as a con-
 
 80 LETTER IX. 
 
 siderable number of the colonists are the children 
 of parents expiating their crimes in prisons, and 
 have perverted the means of improving their 
 offspring by setting before them bad examples, it 
 is necessary to form an artificial family, in which 
 the greatest care and sympathy should be mani- 
 fested towards them, so that their natural family 
 should be remembered only as a contrast to the 
 advantages, blessings, and friendships they are 
 now enjoying. 
 
 Nor when the colonist leaves does the con- 
 nexion between him and the colony cease, but a 
 friendly correspondence is kept up, and his subse- 
 quent good conduct recorded on a Table ; if 
 unwell he is visited, and should he reside at a 
 neighbouring farm, he comes whenever he is so 
 inclined on the Sunday, takes his former place in 
 the church, and dines at the common table : the 
 Directors making his visit a subject of moral in- 
 struction to the colonists. 
 
 When we entered the first floor of one of the 
 houses the boys were assembled, and about to go 
 out to their church. After inspecting the rooms 
 we descended, and M. De Metz having engaged 
 to go some distance to bring home his younger 
 daughter and would not return before night, he re-
 
 M. REMONEAU. 81 
 
 quested one of les Parens to accompany me during 
 the day to every part of the establishment, and 
 having engaged me to breakfast with him on the 
 following morning, he departed with his friends. 
 
 I was much pleased with the ardour and in- 
 telligence of my young companion, whose name 
 was .Remoneau, and appeared to be about thirty 
 years of age : he said he had been with M. De 
 Metz from the origin of the colony ; and several 
 times during the day, for we were five hours 
 together, he told me with exultation how well he 
 had triumphed over the sarcasms and ridicule of 
 those who had called him un fou for making so 
 ridiculous an attempt. 
 
 We first visited the church, where all the boys 
 were congregated : three priests were officiating, 
 and some strangers with ourselves were in the 
 gallery. The altar is considerably raised, and 
 behind it on the floor are cells for the confinement 
 of the turbulent, the doors of which are left partly 
 open during the service, so that the young pri- 
 soners can join in it without being seen. I 
 entered one of the cells after the service and 
 observed a multiplication table on one side, and 
 over the entrance the words Dieu vous voit. 
 
 Entering one of the ten houses not yet occupied 
 E 2
 
 82 LETTliR IX. 
 
 by the boys, of whom there are three hundred 
 and sixty, the first floor was devoted to two offices, 
 one general, the other private ; in the latter is a 
 small cot, on which Monsieur De Metz occa- 
 sionally reposes when a refractory boy is sleeping 
 alone in a room below in consequence of some 
 sullen disobedience. There is a small trap-door 
 about six inches square, which he occasionally 
 lifts up in the silence of the night, and parentally 
 exhorts the boy to remember his Maker, and to 
 think of the kind intentions of his friends. " To 
 reclaim the waywardness of youth," said Remo- 
 neau, "is the object for which Monsieur De 
 Metz quits his luxurious mansion and reclines 
 all night on that little couch." In short, no pains 
 are spared to prevent the boys from falling back 
 into their former courses ; day and night they are 
 surrounded by watchful and affectionate guardians. 
 
 We next went into the large school or class- 
 room, on the right of the church : it contains a 
 small organ, the desks are in a semi-circular form, 
 the seats for the boys are single and fixed to the 
 floor. 
 
 On each side, and receding from the church, 
 are the kitchen and washhouse, and still further 
 back, a capacious and lofty cow-house ; and the
 
 2 8 
 
 o .3 
 
 en o
 
 INFIRMARY AND NORMAL SCHOOL. 83 
 
 piggery and all the farming establishment are 
 most complete. The house in the foreground on 
 the right belongs to the cure. 
 
 After going through all these general buildings 
 we went two or three hundred yards down a lane 
 running by the side of the establishment, and 
 entered a gate which you will perceive in the 
 other print, with the spire of the church appearing 
 in the distance over it ; the opposite gate leads 
 into the grounds of the Vicomte De Bretigneres 
 de Courteilles. 
 
 The right wing is an infirmary, superintended 
 by two of the boys under three Sisters of Charity. 
 The left wing is devoted to a Normal school, 
 composed, of course, of a different' class of young 
 men. This is a most important part of the in- 
 stitution, being a training school for intelligent 
 youths, many of whom become Chefs and Sous- 
 chefs of the families : without this Normal school 
 there would be great difficulty in finding a suc- 
 cession of young men qualified by their piety, 
 talent, zeal, and benevolence, to discharge the 
 interesting and sacred duties of the Parent. The 
 balcony, extending from one wing to the other, is 
 used for exercise by the invalids, and from whence 
 they can witness the gymnastic exercises in the
 
 84 LETTER IX. 
 
 grounds immediately opposite ; they have also an 
 opportunity of walking in the botanic gardens, 
 which are in the rear of the building. 
 
 The front-door under the balcony leads to the 
 chapel of the normal school, and a small gallery 
 in the chapel is entered directly from the in- 
 firmary, so that all the invalids not confined to 
 their beds can join in the service. 
 
 There is also a large swimming-bath or pond 
 belonging to the colony, with a convenient and 
 ornamental shed. 
 
 In the evening I attended the school or class- 
 room, where the boys had assembled for singing 
 under the direction of their teacher, who had 
 every reason to be well satisfied with their skill. 
 The Vicomte De Bretigneres, who has been very 
 recently married, was present with some of the 
 family connexions of his bride ; he told me that 
 he should breakfast with Monsieur De Metz in 
 the morning, when he would give some attention 
 to the plan of the Self-supporting Institution.
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 Mettray, October 20, 1845. 
 
 LAST night, after my return to the hotel, Re- 
 moneau came and spent an hour or two with me, 
 chiefly in the examination of my own plan, the 
 idea of which greatly interested him. I was so 
 much excited by all that I had witnessed during 
 the day that it was late before I closed my eyes. 
 Early in the morning the sound of the bugle was 
 heard, and between eight and nine Remoneau 
 was at my door to accompany me to the square, 
 where the boys were all drawn up in military 
 array, with the directors of each work at the head 
 of their detachments. At the word of command 
 they all marched off to the sound of music to 
 their respective employments. At eight o'clock 
 they had all assembled in the church.
 
 86 LETTER X. 
 
 According to the last report, the numbers in 
 each employment were as follows : 
 
 Agriculturists, &c. . . . . 220 
 
 Gardeners ..... 39 
 
 Wheelwrights . . . . .17 
 
 Blacksmiths and Farriers . . 12 
 
 Wooden Shoemakers ... 15 
 
 Joiners ..... 12 
 
 Masons and Bricklayers ... 4 
 
 Shoemakers . . . . 13 
 
 Tailors . . ... . 13 
 
 Cord and Sailmakers . . 5 
 
 350 
 
 We then went to the depot of articles for sale, 
 many of. which are made by the colonists ; they 
 have also books, and sets of prints representing 
 the boys at work in the stone quarry and in the 
 different workshops, at their meals, or retiring to 
 their hammocks. This depot is in the Botanic 
 Garden. 
 
 It was now M. De Metz' breakfast hour, and 
 I met at his table the same party as yesterday ; 
 all were suggesting the names of different indivi- 
 duals in Paris upon whom they wished me to 
 
 call, and Miss C inquired if I had visited the 
 
 English Convent at Paris, as she had no doubt
 
 TABLE OF HONOR. 87 
 
 the ladies there would readily assist in making 
 the subject known. M. De Metz told me that in 
 a few months he thought of sending Remoneau 
 to London, for the purpose of learning English 
 and explaining the system adopted at the colony. 
 I said I should be most happy to aid him as far 
 as laid in my power; and who would not take 
 delight in welcoming the young ambassador, not 
 going to secure the interests of his own country, 
 but to impart blessings to another? Although a 
 Catholic he goes to benefit a Protestant, not by 
 a vain endeavour to convert him, but to shew a 
 better policy in reclaiming our wandering, because 
 neglected youth. 
 
 After breakfast we proceeded to the colony 
 and visited several workshops, where all were 
 actively and happily employed. M. De Metz 
 then took me into his office, where three or four 
 young men were writing in the books in which 
 the moral and statistical account of the conduct 
 of the colonists, and of the work done is kept. 
 There is a Table on which the names of boys who 
 have done well, and a sort of tristam notem against 
 the names of those who have erred. A boy who 
 has passed three months without a single reproof 
 has his name inscribed on the Table of Honor.
 
 88 LETTER X. 
 
 Tables there are also denoting the different de- 
 grees of skill and industry each has displayed in 
 his particular vocation, and both Tables are con- 
 sulted by those who apply for servants or work- 
 men. M. De Metz was kind enough to write a 
 letter of introduction for me to the Secretary of 
 the Archbishop of Paris, recommending attention 
 to my plan, and in shaking me cordially by the 
 hand expressed a hope that we should correspond. 
 To you who have long strove to rear similar 
 institutions for families to that now in existence 
 for boys, there will be much in what I have 
 described to excite your delight and admiration, 
 but nothing to surprise you ; you will be rejoiced 
 to find that minds kindred to your own have 
 been labouring so successfully, because they have 
 had the command of means necessary to insure 
 success : not only the wealth and material re- 
 quisites are here, but the intelligence, the practical 
 talents and the will, and above all the love of 
 God and of their fellow-creatures. Would that 
 some of your clerical brethren could behold this 
 scene, and then would they promptly aid your 
 benevolent efforts ! Nowhere, perhaps, in the 
 world is to be seen a more consistent society, 
 solely because the requirements of Christianity are
 
 ORGANISATION OF SOCIETY. 89 
 
 primarily attended to, and secular affairs sub- 
 ordinated to and regulated by religious principle, 
 without being permitted to interfere with or 
 obstruct its influence. So far as the character of 
 the individuals who first constituted the Society is 
 concerned, the attempt has been made under 
 circumstances the most disadvantageous, and yet 
 in five short years it has triumphantly succeeded. 
 And who were these individuals? poor, neglected, 
 and ill-trained boys, many of whom were the sons 
 of convicts, and others who had been taken up 
 on suspicion, and rescued from a course of certain 
 ruin. Truly this institution richly deserves its 
 distinction of the Paternal Colony. 
 
 I am much mistaken if the Colony of Mettray 
 will not prove the first practical step towards a 
 better organisation of society, if such an expression 
 we may be allowed to utter. It is curious to 
 observe with what a tender regard for the extreme 
 sensitiveness of the public, some of our little 
 plans for giving a basin of soup to the poor are 
 prefaced by a solemn assurance that no new 
 organisation of society is in contemplation, while 
 nothing but a better organisation of the people 
 can yield them regular and healthy employment, 
 and a just compensation for labour, no longer
 
 90 LETTER X. 
 
 subject to the fluctuating demands of a market. 
 We hesitate not to organise the people when we 
 want them to destroy the people of another coun- 
 try, as innocent and, perhaps, as ignorant of the 
 cause of the national dispute as themselves, and 
 to be as little benefited by the result of the 
 battle. We hesitated not to organise multitudes 
 of women for working in the mines. We hesi- 
 tated not to organise troops of little children to 
 toil in the factory for twelve hours in the day, 
 but to organise them for their own benefit, for 
 their moral and religious improvement, and in 
 order that they may be brought unto Him, who 
 said " Suffer little children to come unto me," 
 then, indeed, to our eternal disgrace, we do hesitate. 
 In the annual reports many interesting anec- 
 dotes are related, all tending to shew the excel- 
 lent moral effect produced by the paternal system 
 adopted. The early Report of 1841 states an 
 important fact : 
 
 " Nous pouvons affirmer que nous sommes arrives a 
 ce point, que ce sont les bons qui agissent sur les mau- 
 vais, et que nos colons sont les premiers a reprimer eux- 
 memes les mechanics actions qui peuvent se com- 
 mettre dans leurs rangs." 
 
 The same Report goes on to say, that when any
 
 CONDUCT OF THE COLONISTS. 91 
 
 serious fault has been committed during their 
 recreations the colonists are suddenly silent, and 
 for many days it is remembered. 
 
 When an account of the inundations of the 
 Rhone was read, many of them offered to go to 
 Lyons to aid the sufferers. 
 
 One of the colonists having followed the bad 
 advice of a workman who had got accidentally 
 into the colony, was put into the cell, and upon 
 coming out was informed that the workman had 
 been sent away and was probably without bread, 
 himself and his children. He replied with much 
 emotion "Quon lid donne le pen que je possede" 
 
 The affairs of the colony requiring one of the 
 chiefs to go for a time to a distant part of the 
 country, the family manifested the greatest regret 
 at his absence, and were so overjoyed on his re- 
 turn that they went out some distance to meet 
 him. 
 
 There is one occurrence so deeply interesting 
 that I must give it you in the language of the 
 Report : 
 
 " II y a six mois, le digne abbe Fissiaux, qui est main- 
 tenant a la tete de la colonie agricole de Marseille, 
 etant venu nous visiter, demanda a nos enfans de lui 
 indiquer parmi eux les trois meilleurs sujets. Les re-
 
 92 LETTER X. 
 
 gards se porterent sur trois colons que leur conduite 
 irreprochable mettait hors de ligne. 
 
 "II tenta une autre epreuve beaucoup plus delicate 
 et dont nous fumes nous-memes assez effrayes, ignorant 
 Tissue qu'elle pouvait avoir; il demanda quel etait le 
 plus mauvais sujet. Nous nous attendions a ce qu'il 
 allait etre designe par ses camarades, car le choix 
 de leur part ne pouvait etre douteux. Tous resterent 
 immobiles : lorsque Fun d'eux s'avanca d'un air timide, 
 et dit bien bas, il est vrai : C'est moi. Le digne abbe 
 1'embrasse avec effusion en lui disant : ' Mon ami, un 
 tel acte preuve que tu te trompes, et je ne t'en crois pas 
 sur parole."' 
 
 I scarcely know which to admire most, the 
 deep self-devotion, benevolence, and pious spirit 
 with which this institution is governed, or the 
 wisdom and judgment displayed in most of 
 the details. We see how much is effected by the 
 perfect organization of an army, so that through 
 the subordination of ranks the commands of the 
 officers and the movements of the subalterns are 
 in obedience and harmony with the will of the 
 general. 
 
 If by this subordination, by mechanical and 
 strict discipline, men can be drilled into habits of 
 order, how much more easily will the same and 
 higher objects be effected when such discipline is
 
 DISCIPLINE. 93 
 
 directed by a spirit which speaks to the inner 
 man, which touches the heart and awakens the 
 conscience ! 
 
 With what a beautiful contrivance does M. 
 De Metz make himself felt throughout the colony ! 
 The head of each family is selected according to 
 his congeniality with himself in religious prin- 
 ciple, benevolence, and talent. The two Sous- 
 chefs are chosen for the same qualifications, while 
 the boys themselves are not only under the con- 
 stant protection of these affectionate an<} faithful 
 guardians, but their attention is more particu- 
 larly called to the higher moral principles in the 
 monthly election of the Freres aines. 
 
 The land at present under cultivation is about 
 200 Hectares, or about 500 English acres. The 
 colony is chiefly supported by private and public 
 contributions, but will require less extraneous 
 support as it advances. Having been commenced 
 only five years since with a few, and been subject 
 to continual derangement from the frequent acces- 
 sion of numbers of disorderly boys during that 
 period, the present state of the colony is in 
 every respect remarkable, and particularly in the 
 diminution of the expenses through the labour of 
 the colonists.
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 Orleans, October 22, 1845. 
 
 FINDING on my arrival at Tours from Mettray, 
 on Monday evening, that so many of the English 
 were now returning from the south that all the 
 seats in the diligences were taken for several days, 
 I resolved to come to this city by the steam-boat, 
 which is, of course, a much more agreeable con- 
 veyance in descending than ascending the river, 
 the former taking six hours and the latter fifteen ; 
 and this determination gave me an opportunity 
 of spending the Tuesday at Tours. On the morn- 
 ing of that day I called at the Protestant book- 
 seller's, and was informed that the Rev. Edward 
 Billey was the principal clergyman of the English 
 Church ; that he resided a little way out of the 
 town, and generally called in there about four 
 o'clock. I was then referred to the French Pro- 
 testant minister, a benevolent man, who, with 
 a friend, paid great attention to my plan, and
 
 COLONIE DE SAINTE-FOY. 95 
 
 strongly urged me to see the Cure of the cathe- 
 dral, as he was very assiduous in his attentions to 
 the poor. I called upon the Cure, but he was out 
 for the day. In the afternoon I was fortunate 
 enough to meet Mr. Billey at the bookseller's ; 
 I presented him with one of my large lithographic 
 prints ; he investigated the subject with consider- 
 able interest, and pressed me to remain till the 
 morning. This, however, I was obliged very reluc- 
 tantly to decline, as it would have delayed me an- 
 other day ; but I earnestly hope to renew my ac- 
 quaintance with this zealous minister. Mr. Billey 
 gave me one of the reports of "La Societe des In- 
 terets generaux du Protestantisme Francais," and 
 spoke highly of an incipient Protestant colony at 
 Sainte-Foy. From the account given of it by M. 
 De Martin, the conductor of the colony, in the 
 Report, I should think there would be much to 
 interest in the establishment as well as in M. De 
 Martin himself. At present there are about forty 
 boys. 
 
 I started in the evening about six o'clock, and 
 reached Ambois, where I slept, at ten. Part of 
 the time I spent in the cabin, listening to the 
 animated conversation of the passengers, who 
 were all French ; the last two hours were, how-
 
 96 LETTER XI. 
 
 ever, much more agreeably occupied, for going 
 upon the deck to make some inquiry of the 
 steersman, a solitary passenger, who seemed to 
 be enjoying the contemplation of the heavens, 
 where the constellations were spread out with 
 unusual brilliancy, observing my English accent 
 directed my attention to the moon in her last 
 quarter, just emerging from the horizon, and cer- 
 tainly the scene was remarkably beautiful : look- 
 ing up the Loire, extending as far as the eye could 
 reach, and at the point of sight the moon was 
 rising between the trees on each side of the river, 
 and which, although seen only in their broad 
 outline, greatly heightened the effect. The oc- 
 casion gave rise to some general remarks upon 
 the enjoyments derived from the sublimity and 
 beauties of nature; but after all, observed the 
 stranger, the mind itself is superior to all. Is it 
 not, I replied, the mind that gives beauty to the 
 scene ? and would it not be all superfluous and 
 lost in an island untenanted by man, and lost 
 even where man is found, unless his mind has 
 received due culture ? for, 
 
 " Without thee what were unenlightened man ? 
 A savage, roaming through the woods and wilds 
 In quest of prey."
 
 TRAINING AT HOFWYL. 97 
 
 If the splendours of nature and the mind of 
 man have been constituted for each other by the 
 Creator, and demand of society a right training 
 for all its members, what can be thought of a 
 Christian community neglecting this sacred duty ? 
 Not only neglecting but impeding even self-educa- 
 tion ; condemning its millions, parents and off- 
 spring, to incessant labour in the fabrication of 
 articles of injurious luxury, equally inimical to 
 the right training of the few. That the sons of 
 toil could easily be rendered susceptible of re- 
 fined taste, may be inferred from an incident in 
 the Industrial Poor School at Hofwyl, when 
 under the direction of Verhli, that kind-hearted 
 and devoted disciple of the Pestalozzian school. 
 When the harvest once required the labourers to 
 work for an hour or two after night-fall, and the 
 full moon rose in extraordinary beauty over the 
 magnificent mountains that surround the plain of 
 Hofwyl ; suddenly, as if with one accord, the 
 poor children began to chant a hymn which they 
 had learnt among many others, but in which the 
 Supreme Being is adored as having lighted up 
 the great lamp of the night, and projected it in 
 the firmament. I regretted that I omitted to 
 offer an exchange of cards with this interesting
 
 98 LETTER XI. 
 
 stranger, who resides at Angers. He entertained 
 a high esteem for M. Rey of Grenoble, who many 
 years since favoured me with some communica- 
 tions ; he was proceeding up the river, but I 
 landed at Ambois about ten o'clock. At the 
 humble hotel of this town I met with good ac- 
 commodation, and was by the river-side at eight 
 o'clock in the morning in expectation of the boat, 
 which, however, did not arrive till an hour after- 
 wards, owing chiefly to the fog. The passengers 
 were all generally communicative ; and as the 
 day was fine, the ascent of the river to Orleans, 
 although we were twelve hours, was by no means 
 tedious ; the banks of the river were adorned by a 
 variety of scenery and by a succession of towns 
 and villages. The railroad is rapidly forming 
 along the side of the river from Orleans to Tours. 
 Although it was night before we arrived, the High 
 Street of Orleans, brilliantly lighted with gas, 
 and with its splendid shops, had an imposing 
 appearance. My time is too limited to visit the 
 institutions, and I cannot learn that the Catholics 
 have any remarkable establishments for educa- 
 tion or the relief of poverty, or that there is any 
 indigence requiring more than ordinary attention. 
 Inquiring for a Protestant minister I was led to
 
 M. ROSSELLOTY OF ORLEANS. 99 
 
 M. Rosselloty, whose house adjoins a small cir- 
 cular chapel, in which he performs duty; he 
 entered with much spirit into the examination of 
 the plan, and said it was to be regretted that 
 Christians should leave similar plans of economy 
 to be adopted by the enemies of religion only, 
 and that no Christian church had yet brought 
 such an institution under its direction. He then 
 proposed introducing me to the mayor of Orleans, 
 and also to an English colonel, but we found 
 neither of them at home. I was, however, highly 
 interested in an institution of his own, entitled 
 " 1'Etablissement d'Orphelines," in which there 
 are sixty girls, who do all the work of the house, 
 which is a pattern of neatness ; and the girls are 
 superintended by females with maternal care and 
 affection. In the school they admit also day- 
 scholars. Here there is much accomplished with 
 very small means ; and when you visit Orleans, 
 on your way to Mettray, you will derive no small 
 degree of pleasure in going over the establish- 
 ment of the pastor, M. Rosselloty.
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 Paris, October 25, 1845. 
 
 IN one of my recent visits at the evening meet- 
 ings of 1'Ecole Societaire since my return to Paris, 
 I was rather surprised to meet with a marked 
 disinclination on the part of some well-educated 
 men to admit the principle of the love of God 
 and man as the most firm basis for any permanent 
 association, accompanied also by a look of 
 astonishment that any one there should entertain 
 such a notion, with an abrupt termination of our 
 discussion by a laconic assurance, that if I would 
 study Fourier I should be convinced of the truth 
 of his theory. From what I had learned of his 
 system in verbal explanations it appeared to me 
 to be erroneous ; and as I had scarcely met with 
 any parties in France, except the members of this 
 society, who favoured the doctrines, I found it 
 difficult at first to account for the great pecuniary
 
 FOURIER. 101 
 
 success of this institution. When, however, it is 
 remembered that their lecturers are men of classi- 
 cal attainments and of extensive reading, earnest 
 and eloquent in their exposition of existing evils, 
 and generally respected for their good intentions 
 and moral character, it is obvious they would be 
 likely to command the warm sympathies of a 
 people whose poverty and misery might induce 
 them to confide in friendly reformers even of 
 inferior pretensions, though unable to comprehend 
 fully their plans of relief. 
 
 The great work embodying Fourier's theory is 
 comprised in two volumes of 600 pages each, 
 entitled " Traite de 1' Association Domestique- 
 Agricole." To follow the instructions of the dis- 
 putant of 1'Ecole Societaire, of thoroughly study- 
 ing the system of Fourier, would be a formidable 
 undertaking; I can, therefore, at present offer 
 only an opinion on his general principles. 
 
 He appears to take a synoptical review of all 
 past ages, noting their different phases, connect- 
 ing them with the present, and thence predicat- 
 ing the future ; announcing that he has discovered 
 the destiny of man, and that attraction in his 
 work is to be the future motive to exertion. He 
 proposes as the first practical measure that an
 
 102 . LETTER XII. 
 
 association of three or four hundred families be 
 formed, which he denominates & phalange, and to- 
 comprise three different classes : 
 
 1st. Those who furnish the capital ; 
 
 2d. Those who possess the requisite talent ; 
 
 3d. The working class. 
 
 Each class to have a proportionate share of the 
 produce. His work abounds also in elaborate 
 regulations for the employment of the inmates in 
 groups and series according to capacity and in- 
 clination ; and he further pronounces his discovery 
 of the principle of attractive industry in the moral 
 world, to be of equal importance with that of the 
 Newtonian theory of attraction in the movement 
 of the heavenly bodies. 
 
 The system of Fourier appears to be the off- 
 spring of a benevolent mind trained in commer- 
 cial habits : engaged in a sphere of life where the 
 sad effects of competition were more strikingly 
 displayed, he sought to alleviate them by modify- 
 ing a system not susceptible in itself of an effectual 
 remedy. 
 
 The division of the produce into separate por- 
 tions for the capitalist, the man of talent, and the 
 workman, with the introduction of money, renders 
 the design of the phalange not only very com-
 
 MOTIVES TO EXERTION. 103 
 
 plicated and difficult of execution, but liable to 
 degenerate into contention and disorder. It would 
 be impossible to form a just estimate of the value 
 of the various kinds and degrees of talent, and 
 the capital borrowed would be required for a short 
 period only to enable the Association to create new 
 capital and pay off the loan. 
 
 All the celebrated authors, both ancient and 
 modern, who have constructed better systems of 
 human policy, have discarded money, as " the 
 root of all evil," from the internal regulations of 
 their communities ; and even those who have not 
 attained that higher philosophy in which religion 
 predominates, so far from contemplating man 
 under his conventional distinctions, have over- 
 thrown the tables of the money-changers, and 
 regarded him as a being endowed with superior 
 faculties to be impelled to action by the nobler 
 motives. 
 
 The injurious effect of holding out the attrac- 
 tion of the work as the end and influential motive 
 is, that when it ceases to be attractive it may 
 cease to be performed. When man makes his 
 own happiness the end for which he works, he 
 fails to attain it ; when duty and improvement 
 are the end, he is happy, so entirely does hap-
 
 104 LETTER XIT. 
 
 piness depend upon the motive under which he 
 acts. But a sense of duty, an approving con- 
 science, and an ardent sympathy for others, if not 
 excluded, do not, at least, constitute the ruling 
 principle of the system of Fourier. 
 
 Instead of supplanting, in an age of luxury and 
 self-indulgence, factitious wants by an appeal to 
 the higher faculties, a more extended gratification 
 of a fastidious taste, and a greater profusion of 
 luxuries, are held out as the chief inducement to 
 exertion. Two thousand years have elapsed since 
 a Greek philosopher declared to his disciples, that 
 to tell a man to do good, was to wish him hap- 
 piness. And I think it was Pestalozzi, that most 
 practical of Christian teachers, who remarked, 
 " we aspire all to a sound state both of mind and 
 body, and of this the leading feature is, to desire 
 little, and to be satisfied with even less."* 
 
 * As the Political Economists erroneously consider a minute 
 division of labour, regardless of all other considerations, as 
 absolutely essential in the production of national wealth, the 
 disciples of Fourier adopt the same principle in the vain hope 
 of gratifying the never-ending and factitious desires of men. 
 The following extracts are from Fourier's " Social Destiny of 
 Man," translated by Albert Brisbane of America : 
 
 " With the aid of the system of Parcelled Exercise, we shall 
 see a majority of women have a love for household occupations 
 for which they feel at present a repugnance. A woman, who 
 does not like the care of children, will take part in a group
 
 FOURIER'S GROUPS AND SERIES. 105 
 
 Futile must be the attempt to lay down any 
 precise rules for the direction of labour by groups 
 and series in any plan of association prior to ex- 
 perience. Such minute details should be left to 
 the decision of a future and more enlightened 
 generation, when far better arrangements will 
 be ultimately adopted, than can be prematurely 
 devised by those who are only theoretically ac- 
 quainted with an organisation of society differing 
 from that which now prevails. The introduction 
 of a new machine will at once derange any pre- 
 concerted regulations ; already the rapid inter- 
 course between different countries by means of 
 railroads renders unforeseen changes necessary. 
 
 Those who shall have been trained as well as 
 taught to love then* neighbours will, of course, 
 endeavour to make the work as agreeable and as 
 
 devoted to some branch of sewing ; another, who detests cooking, 
 may have a taste for the preparation of jellies, she will join the 
 group occupied with this department, in which she may excel 
 and become president, having nothing to do with other branches 
 
 of kitchen occupations Among twelve persons with a 
 
 passion for the tulip, none of the twelve will have a love for 
 the twelve functions connected with its cultivation ; therefore, 
 unless they make a parcelled division of their work and distri- 
 bute functions according to taste, disagreements and discord 
 will break out. On the. other hand, the charm of contrast 
 would not exist between two groups, which did not feel an 
 enthusiasm for their respective functions ! " 
 
 F2
 
 106 LETTER XII. 
 
 attractive as possible, and that will be effected by 
 a judicious division or concentration of labour, 
 according to circumstances and the aptitude and 
 inclination of individuals. 
 
 It is really lamentable that with a code of 
 morals so perfect, precepts so beautiful and so 
 efficacious, sustained too by a far higher principle, 
 a religious system which has commanded the 
 admiration of the wisest and most practical men 
 in all ages should be abandoned for speculations 
 so crude and fanciful. 
 
 Fourier objects to the Christian scheme, because 
 it declares human nature to be corrupt, while all 
 that he has written upon the wanderings, the 
 errors, and vices of society, proves the fact ; and 
 he entirely overlooks that promised consumma- 
 tion which is the hope and expectation of every 
 Christian in the fulfilment of the prophecies, and 
 that happy period when " the knowledge of the 
 Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the 
 sea ;" " when swords shall be turned into plough- 
 shares and spears into priming-hooks." 
 
 Upon the same ground are the ministers of 
 religion assailed in a pamphlet, entitled " Mettray 
 and Ostwald," by F. Gantagrel, and published 
 under the auspices pf FEcole Societaire. The
 
 BOND OF SOCIAL UNION. 107 
 
 reformation of characters in those institutions is 
 referred to, as an evidence of the goodness of 
 human nature; but as the Directors are them- 
 selves pious Christians, and are aided by the 
 Catholic clergy, however they may deplore the 
 prevailing corruption, their very labours evince a 
 belief that it will yield to the judicious and zeal- 
 ous application of the appointed means. 
 
 As the clergy, both Catholic and Protestant, 
 are benevolently acting upon this conviction, it 
 would seem to be very idle to quarrel about 
 a theological opinion, and thus delay the adoption 
 of practical measures of relief. 
 
 On the bond of Social Union, the Book of 
 Nature and the Book of Revelation teach the 
 same lesson : in uncivilised countries the interest 
 of the individual is the interest of his tribe, the 
 strong assist the weak, the " medicine man," as 
 he is called, relieves the afflicted, and the exercise 
 of these useful and kind offices increases their 
 sympathy and love for each other. 
 
 The Saviour taught, both by precept and ex- 
 ample, that men should love one another, and 
 the same is eloquently enforced by the great 
 Apostle in specific and general exhortations ; and, 
 as if to add strength to the natural and enjoined
 
 108 LETTER XII. 
 
 sympathy, we are first commanded to love the 
 Lord our God with all our hearts, and thus par- 
 ticipating in the Divine attributes are better able 
 to discharge our duties to society. 
 
 With all history and present experience to 
 confirm the efficiency of this principle, we have 
 here combined an a priori and an a posteriori 
 philosophy of impregnable truth and of transcen- 
 dent power : this is the only principle Love 
 that is at once diffusive and attractive, and which 
 in the moral world can bear any analogy to the 
 Newtonian principle of attraction in the material 
 world. 
 
 It is remarkable that neither Wollaston in his 
 " Religion of Nature," nor Butler in his " Analogy 
 of Natural and Revealed Religion," have adverted 
 to the natural sympathy of mankind ; and yet it 
 should appear to be the most striking analogical 
 illustration of harmony in God's government of 
 the world, and the most complete ; for, while it- 
 shews a satisfactory analogy, it shews also the 
 superiority of the love enjoined in the Gospel. 
 
 It is that principle which, whether in doing 
 or suffering, has manifested the most sublime 
 energies. It has cheered the captive in the gloom 
 of his dungeon, and borne the martyr in triumph
 
 POWER OF RELIGION. 109 
 
 to his stake ; it has sustained the missionary un- 
 daunted in his holy enterprise over snow-clad 
 mountains and across the arid desert; in the 
 Roman Catholic Church it has sent thousands of 
 Sisters of Charity by day and night unwearied to 
 the bed of sickness, and devoted, in the Protestant 
 Church, a much larger number of Sunday-school 
 teachers to the gratuitous instruction of the child- 
 ren of their poorer neighbours ; in short, this 
 heaven-descended principle has proved the source 
 of every thing great and good. If, under corrupt 
 and selfish systems, where contention and rivalry 
 were almost necessary to existence, where facti- 
 tious rewards engendered pride and ambition, 
 where the path of duty was beset with tempta- 
 tions in every variety of form and fascination, 
 this higher principle has broken through and 
 triumphed over all obstructions, why should we 
 despair of its supremacy under influences all 
 favourable to its growth and expansion, and where 
 the lower motives will find less of pernicious 
 excitement ? * 
 
 * " They are friends ; whilst lending to each other a reciprocal 
 support, they can the more easily satisfy their mutual wants : 
 they are enemies, whilst circumstances establishing a competi- 
 tion amongst themselves, several strive to obtain that which 
 only one can enjoy." CHATELUR on Public Happiness.
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 Paris, October 28, 1845. 
 
 ON Friday the 24th, I went in search of the 
 English Convent, which is situate in Rue des Fosses 
 Ste. Victoire. The court-yard is entered by large 
 folding gates, and going up a few steps on the 
 left I rang the bell, and immediately a small slide 
 in the door was removed, and a woman spoke to 
 me through the bars, a la prison. I inquired if 
 the Superieure could be seen, and she directed me 
 a short way round the raised passage, and I 
 passed through two rooms, the doors of each 
 being close to the windows and the fire-places 
 opposite, after the style of Hampton Court and 
 the old mansions. The rooms were small, half 
 way down each room was a division, the upper 
 part formed of bars and wire-work, through which 
 alone visitors could communicate with those on 
 the other side. The Superieure, Madame Fair-
 
 ENGLISH CONVENT. Ill 
 
 bairne, attired as a nun, but with all the polished 
 manners of a lady, soon made her appearance : 
 she appeared to take much interest in the Insti- 
 tution of Mettray and also in what we had to 
 propose, requested me to leave some of the Pro- 
 spectuses and to call another day with the Plan, 
 adding that she would see me at any hour in the 
 morning : she observed, that the Catholics were 
 much more persevering and zealous in any cause 
 they took up than the Protestants : this was a 
 conclusion I thought very erroneous, but rather 
 impolitic to question upon that occasion. The 
 Superieure informed me that theirs was the only 
 convent that escaped the fury of the Revolution, 
 and had been established 200 years. There are 
 thirty nuns and about seventy ladies besides who 
 reside with them. None but English, not even 
 Irish, are permitted to take the veil in their 
 Convent. 
 
 On Sunday 26th, I had the pleasure of attend- 
 ing the chapel of the Rev. Robert Lovett. His 
 discourse was very impressive, and the congre- 
 gation large. After the service I went into the 
 vestry, and he received me with great kindness. 
 I had sent him a copy of the " Christian Com- 
 monwealth," and upon being informed that a
 
 112 LETTER XIII. 
 
 small edition was printing, he said lie should 
 certainly send for some copies, and invited me 
 to visit him when again in Paris. I had once 
 before been at his chapel when he was absent, 
 and then a clergyman preached an extempore 
 and animated sermon. 
 
 In the afternoon I went to the establishment 
 of M. Bervanger, as he had upon my former visit 
 urged me to go on the Sunday afternoon. When 
 I entered the court-yard a very numerous band 
 of musicians was playing, surrounded by a crowd 
 of people ; the Abbe was at his window, saw me 
 enter, and beckoned me upstairs, when he intro- 
 duced me to a Catholic priest just from Belgium ; 
 but he was on his way to a distant province, and 
 could not call upon me. At four o'clock the 
 service commenced in the chapel, which was 
 lighted up with extraordinary brilliancy with gas 
 in numerous religious devices, and the singing, 
 accompanied by the organ and other instruments, 
 was solemn and affecting. The Catholic religion 
 was set forth here with all its meretricious adorn- 
 ments, but in a style more calculated, if the 
 music is excepted, to amuse children than to 
 promote piety. 
 
 On Monday 27th, I again repaired to the
 
 FRERES CHRETIENS. 113 
 
 English convent, and was shewn into one of the 
 rooms where the excluded and the worldly are 
 allowed a brief communication with the more 
 holy sisterhood. " Well, Mr. Morgan," said Ma- 
 dame Fairbairne, as she entered, " are you not 
 afraid to come amongst us, devoted Catholics?" 
 I reminded her of her claim to superior zeal on 
 the part of the Catholics in carrying forward any 
 great and good object. She had distributed the 
 Prospectuses and wished for more. I had the 
 small Plan with me which she examined minutely, 
 and proposed borrowing the " Christian Common- 
 wealth" of the Archbishop immediately. 
 
 The Superieure mentioned an institution of 
 les Freres Chretiens in the neighbouring street, 
 Rue Etienne, and observed, if I made use of her 
 name, they would shew me over it. I found 
 there 160 apprentices, from twelve years of age 
 and upwards, learning various trades. The con- 
 ductors were quiet, industrious, and pious cha- 
 racters. In the accommodations, though humble, 
 there are cleanliness and good arrangement. 
 
 I have made an endeavour to unite the dif- 
 ferent Societies advocating the principle of co- 
 operation, by addressing a letter to the editor of
 
 114 LETTER XIII. 
 
 the " Democratique Pacifique," from which the 
 following is an extract : 
 
 " Although a diversity of opinion on other points pre- 
 vails among the Political Economists in England, yet 
 all who favour competition are recognised as belonging 
 to the same school, and are so far eligible as Members 
 of their Club : from this union they obtain considerable 
 influence. I would, therefore, submit that a Society be 
 formed upon a broad basis, so that all who are opposed 
 to competition may be admitted as Members, however 
 differing in their views as to the specific form of Asso- 
 ciation, each may deem the best as an effectual remedy 
 for the disorders that afflict society. 
 
 " No Member in joining the Institution should be 
 considered as identified with any peculiar project of 
 other Members. 
 
 " The Society might be denominated, * The European 
 Institute for ameliorating the condition of the people, 
 by exposing the evils and misery of competition, and for 
 advocating the great benefits to be derived from the 
 adoption of the more humane and enlightened principle 
 of the Christian Association/ 
 
 " The Central Society to be established in Paris, with 
 Branch or Corresponding Societies in London, Berlin, 
 Vienna, Madrid, and all the capitals of Europe. An 
 Annual Congress to be held in each capital, com- 
 mencing next year in Paris."
 
 A PROSPECTUS. 115 
 
 I had previously shewn the following Pro- 
 spectus which I had drawn up a few years since 
 for a projected Society, and which, with some 
 modifications, might now serve for " The Self- 
 supporting Village Society : " 
 
 " Notwithstanding the extraordinary efforts that have 
 been made by benevolent individuals and societies, 
 within the last half century, to ameliorate the condition 
 and to promote the moral and religious improvement of 
 the people, destitution, demoralisation, and crime, have 
 continued to increase, and have latterly become most 
 appalling. 
 
 " To conclude that those humane endeavours had, 
 therefore, been vain and fruitless, would be erroneous ; 
 for, great as the increase of poverty and crime has been, 
 it might have been far greater but for such efforts, and 
 to them may be ascribed much of that resignation and 
 patience with which severe privation has been endured, 
 and much of that good sense and right feeling with 
 which the specious arguments of the designing have 
 been so long resisted. 
 
 " It nevertheless becomes an important duty, and a 
 duty the more urgent and imperative, in consequence 
 of the excellent conduct of a suffering people, to inquire 
 whence the obstructions have arisen to defeat the ex- 
 pectations of those who have diligently laboured in the 
 vineyard; why, after education has been so generally 
 promoted, the Scriptures widely spread, and almost
 
 116 LETTER XIII. 
 
 unbounded wealth created, ignorance, immorality, and 
 extreme poverty, should still prevail. 
 
 " In the numerous Parliamentary Committees of in- 
 quiry into distress and crime, the evils complained of 
 have been traced to a variety of causes, but scarcely one 
 of the Reports has omitted to give the chief prominence 
 to the want of regular employment. To the same cause 
 have the Dignitaries of the Church, in their Charges, 
 attributed the difficulties of the Parochial Clergy in the 
 discharge of their pastoral duties. Idle and disorderly 
 habits are contracted when work is scarce ; poverty 
 compels parents to send their children too early to 
 labour, to the neglect of the schools, and the young 
 men, no longer domiciled with their employers, are 
 uncontrolled at a critical period of life. 
 
 " That destitution should advance with that mechanic 
 power, which, while it overwhelms the labour-market, 
 contributes to our superabundance and to the means of 
 enjoyment, proves that the bounties which a merciful 
 Providence has bestowed are not sufficiently under the 
 charitable regulations of religious principle. 
 
 " The benefits in the Moravian settlements resulting 
 from a more intimate connexion between secular and 
 religious affairs, and the rapid accumulation of wealth 
 in some religious societies constituted upon a similar 
 principle in America, encourage a well-grounded hope 
 that associations of the unemployed poor, under the 
 direction of intelligent members of our own pure and 
 reformed Church, with all the facilities and scientific
 
 FRENCH REVOLUTION. 117 
 
 appliances this country affords, would realise advantages 
 still more important. 
 
 " The sanguinary horrors of the French Revolution 
 of the last century should warn us of the dangers at- 
 tending any premature disturbance of the complicated 
 interests of a great empire; but they should also ad- 
 monish us of the necessity for those timely and salutary 
 reforms, in all human institutions, which the spread of 
 knowledge and the progress of science demand. 
 
 " Fortunately the British Constitution is all-sufficient 
 for the remedies required, since the Self-supporting 
 Institution is neither more nor less than the Parochial 
 System more completely carried out. 
 
 " By reconciling and consolidating those interests, 
 now in a state of collision, among members of the same 
 congregation, through the spirit of rivalry engendered 
 by competition, and by securing to the people permanent 
 employment and its just remuneration, the ministers of 
 the Gospel would, with the blessing of God, reap a more 
 abundant harvest. The children, removed in a greater 
 degree from the counteracting influence of bad example, 
 could then be trained in the way they should go, the 
 ordinances of Religion be better observed, and whatever 
 concerns the temporal welfare of the people, and, above 
 all, their moral and spiritual improvement, be brought 
 more directly under the guidance and protection of 
 Christianity. 
 
 " The Society is formed for the purpose of collecting 
 and imparting information upon a subject, new in prac-
 
 118 LETTER XIII. 
 
 tice, as well as for encouraging experiments that may 
 offer a prospect of success. 
 
 "The principle of economy is not necessarily con- 
 fined to those of one religious persuasion ; but, as the 
 number of Members is not large, it is desirable that a 
 uniformity of sentiment and feeling on the important 
 subject of religion should prevail in each establishment, 
 thus constituting a congregation." 
 
 The letter was taken into consideration by the 
 Committee, and they concluded that such an 
 institution would be highly desirable ; but it could 
 not be brought forward in " Le Democratique 
 Pacifique," as the Government would consider 
 the proposal as emanating from them although 
 inserted in the form of a letter from a corre- 
 spondent. 
 
 The general principle of association for mutual 
 benefit, in contradistinction to that of competition 
 in the production and distribution of wealth, has 
 made considerable progress in the public mind 
 upon the Continent, and various are the plans of 
 the theorists. Even the Political Economists 
 begin to admit into their systems other consider- 
 ations besides those relating exclusively to the 
 creation of wealth. 
 
 I have before spoken of M. Cabet and his
 
 FLORA TRISTAN. 119 
 
 work, " Voyage en Icarie," besides which he has 
 written numerous pamphlets, more or less bear- 
 ing on the same subject, but all mixed up with 
 political matters, with the use of party terms, 
 such as " Rights," " Democracy," " Equality," &c. 
 He pretends to no faith in the Christian Religion, 
 but classes it with all the other religions of the 
 earth as having one common origin the ignor- 
 ance and superstitions of the ruder stages of 
 society ! Nor can any religious belief be traced 
 in the writings of Fourier. His disciples, finding 
 an inconvenience in this defect, endeavour to 
 manifest their faith by representing on the cover 
 of their Almanack Jesus Christ giving his right 
 hand to Socrates and the left to Fourier ! 
 
 Among the benevolent and enthusiastic re- 
 formers of society Madame Flora Tristan held a 
 distinguished place, though not much known to 
 the learned. Prompted to great exertions by the 
 scenes of distress witnessed at Lyons and other 
 large towns, she travelled from place to place 
 exhorting attention to the poor, and published a 
 small pamphlet, entitled " Union Ouvriere," re- 
 commending a palace to be built in different 
 departments by the subscriptions of the people, 
 and to be devoted to the education of children,
 
 120 LETTER XIII. 
 
 and an asylum for the aged. It does not appear 
 that she had any practical plan for altering the 
 condition of the work-people, which she deplored 
 with intense feeling. The work is composed 
 without any party or political acrimony. She 
 also published her " Tour de France," giving an 
 account of the general state of the people. It 
 was on her visit to Bourdeaux in 1844, in prose- 
 cution of the object to which her ardent mind 
 was devoted, that she fell a sacrifice to her ex- 
 traordinary efforts, and died in the presence of 
 her friend, Madame Eleonore Blanc, who had 
 hastened from Lyons immediately on hearing of 
 her dangerous state. Her work, " Union Ouv- 
 riere," is written in a good spirit, free from per- 
 sonalities, and with an earnest appeal to the 
 clergy on behalf of a depressed people. A short 
 biographical account of Madame Flora Tristan 
 has been written by Madame Blanc, by which it 
 appears that a subscription has been raised for 
 erecting a monument to her memory in the 
 Cemetery at Bourdeaux.
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 London, April 30, 1846. 
 
 WHILE the impression left upon my mind of 
 French Institutions was more vivid, I visited 
 some of our own of a similar character, and I 
 must confess, that so far as the piety, zeal, bene- 
 volence, and talent of the chaplains in our re- 
 formatory prisons would enable them to conduct 
 Mettray Institutions in England, we should soon, 
 with adequate funds, be enabled to establish them, 
 especially as the family division to which M. 
 De Metz attributes his great success is in general 
 highly appreciated. In town, such institutions 
 would be quite impracticable ; but if the Philan- 
 thropic Society in St. George's Eields would sell 
 their present site, so valuable for building, they 
 would probably obtain sufficient funds to erect suit- 
 able buildings near to a railroad in the country. 
 
 I have been favoured with Captain Macono- 
 
 G
 
 122 LETTER XIV. 
 
 chie's brief but lucid account of his interesting 
 and successful operations in Norfolk Island, and 
 to which is appended a valuable commentary 
 upon the system pursued at Mettray, as deduced 
 from the various Reports. Each paragraph is 
 accompanied by a comparison with the mode of 
 obtaining the same or a similar object at Norfolk 
 Island. Captain Maconochie disapproves of the 
 " Table of Honor/' as calculated to foster selfish- 
 ness and pride : he himself substitutes the earn- 
 ing of so many marks, which abridge, in propor- 
 tion to their number, the term of imprisonment ; 
 and there is a forfeiture of these marks for any 
 misconduct or breach of discipline. I remember 
 discussing this point with Remoneau during the 
 evening he spent with me at Mettray, and he 
 remarked that it was deemed necessary, in con- 
 sequence of the previous training of the boys, to 
 appeal to the ordinary motives. The system of 
 marks, however, appears to be a sufficient reward 
 or encouragement without any invidious com- 
 parison with the progress or failure of others. 
 This " Table of Honor" was objected to by several 
 Protestant ministers with whom I conversed sub- 
 sequent to my visit to Mettray, and especially by 
 M. Rosselloty of Orleans.
 
 RAGGED SCHOOLS. 123 
 
 I have also visited several of the Ragged Schools, 
 the mention of which very much puzzled some of 
 our friends in Paris, who seemed to think that 
 food and clothing had always preceded instruc- 
 tion. I had attended these schools previous to 
 my excursion, and found them deeply interesting, 
 and more particularly as they effected no small 
 benefit by affording a more extensive insight into 
 the wretched condition of the people. 
 
 That young men sljpuld be found to volunteer 
 as teachers at the Ragged Schools that those, 
 whose piety and unremitting toil throughout the 
 week render the peaceful devotions of the Sab- 
 bath peculiarly gratifying, should forego those 
 advantages, and expose themselves to contact 
 with ragged and dirty boys, and even to insult 
 and personal violence, for the sake of doing good, 
 is a conduct that may indeed be added to the 
 most convincing and striking evidences of the 
 " power of Religion on the mind/' 
 
 These teachers cannot clothe the naked, they 
 cannot feed the hungry, they cannot find em- 
 ployment for the boys, their humble position 
 precludes them from doing all this ; but they do 
 all they can, and honour be to them for a noble 
 example of Christian virtue 1
 
 124 LETTER XIV. 
 
 But are there not among their patrons those 
 who, by their mandate alone and without any 
 personal inconvenience, could transfer not the 
 boys only, but hundreds of their families, whose 
 poverty is the chief cause of the moral and spi- 
 ritual destitution of their children, to the land 
 where in well-arranged Christian communities 
 their regular and healthy employment might be 
 made subservient to higher objects ? 
 
 No reflecting and human person would hesitate 
 to contribute to the best of his ability towards 
 the relief of such objects as are contemplated by 
 Ragged Schools, the Distressed Needlewomen's 
 Society, and many others instituted for the allevi- 
 ation of the multifarious and endless evils arising 
 from competition, which, urged on by scientific 
 power, rages more furiously year by year, bearing 
 down its thousands of victims while augmenting 
 the stores of the wealthy. Nor is it sufficiently 
 considered that, for one individual whose misery 
 is brought to light, there may be fifty who shrink 
 from the exposure of their sufferings and poverty, 
 and die neglected. If in an extensive and wide- 
 spreading conflagration, in which, unless its pro- 
 gress were arrested, numbers must inevitably 
 perish, we saw those who could extinguish the
 
 AUSTRALIAN EXPEDITION. 125 
 
 flames solely occupied in procuring fire-escapes 
 and other means of rescuing a few, we should 
 think them either very ignorant or very in- 
 human. '* 
 
 I have been lately reading Mitchell's " Austra- 
 lian Expedition," and it is lamentable to reflect 
 upon the number of intelligent and enterprising 
 travellers we have lost by sending them forth to 
 explore unknown and inhospitable regions, in- 
 stead of first perfecting our policies, and then 
 establishing them on the borders of barbarous 
 countries, to attract and thence educate and 
 civilize the natives. The history of exploring 
 parties is in general the history of the brief life 
 and death of ardent genius. If the Moravian 
 settlers, few in number, with little science and 
 great devotion, have succeeded in first winning 
 the friendship of the aborigines, and thereby 
 securing attention to their doctrines, why should 
 not greater numbers skilfully arranged, with 
 more science and equal devotion, succeed upon a 
 larger scale? 
 
 The Missionaries in other countries, especially 
 in China, appear to have been the more successful 
 in the work of civilization than the Traders ; but, 
 for one Missionary to proclaim the glad tidings
 
 126 LETTER XIV. 
 
 of the Gospel, we send 20,000 armed men to 
 refute the doctrine of the Man of Peace. 
 
 Suppose Major Mitchell had discovered a 
 numerous tribe all living under one chief, who, 
 with a few others, were bedizened with precious 
 stones, and their heads decorated with some of 
 the prettiest feathers of the cockatoo, reposing in 
 warm and comfortable huts, also profusely orna- 
 mented; and, the climate being rigorous, they 
 were clothed with the best-prepared skins of the 
 kangaroo and emus lined with the choicest down, 
 and enjoying also an abundance of the best of 
 food; if hard by these magnificent huts were seen 
 multitudes of the same tribe half-starved, barely 
 clothed, and crowded together in miserable hovels, 
 notwithstanding they had provided for the sup- 
 port and contributed to the comforts, luxuries, 
 and splendour of the few, should we not deem 
 them the most inhuman of all the barbarous 
 tribes hitherto discovered, and immediately ship 
 off bales of Religious Tracts to teach them better 
 things ? 
 
 Cannot Bible and Tract Societies discover some 
 means of reaching the hearts and consciences of 
 the inhabitants of Belgrave Square, and of others 
 luxuriating in the fruits of labour, while the pro-
 
 ROYAL SOCIETY. 127 
 
 ducers themselves are perishing in want and 
 misery ? 
 
 A difference of opinion prevails among our 
 friends as to the expediency of a Public Meeting, 
 some considering it premature. I think, how- 
 ever, there is reason to expect the support of 
 many influential parties. Whether we may cal- 
 culate upon the members of the Royal Society, I 
 know not ; more competent than many classes to 
 comprehend practical principles, man himself has 
 long been disregarded as a subject even for 
 zoology. Lately, indeed, he has been taken up 
 by an Ethnological Society ; but there he is ex- 
 amined only as a specimen in natural history, not 
 as a domesticated animal capable of being so 
 vastly improved by training as scarcely to re- 
 semble his own species. Prepare a paper setting 
 forth this deficiency in Science, and you will 
 not be allowed to read it. Prepare another dis- 
 covering some physiological error in the descrip- 
 tion of an animal; for instance, prove incon- 
 testibly the exact number of toes in the foot of a 
 kangaroo, and you will soon be dignified as an 
 F.R.S. We have often been reminded, that 
 scientific men have their own mission ; but if 
 there are not duties common to all; if, as members
 
 128 LETTER XIV. 
 
 of society, or as Christians, we have no higher 
 end than our own amusement ; or if, as philoso- 
 phers, we are still to be unmindful of the often- 
 repeated, but neglected maxim, "Homo sum," &c. 
 we shall continue to apply the discoveries of 
 science with the same disregard of moral ends in 
 which they are prosecuted, and instead of using 
 gunpowder to blast the rock we shall employ it 
 to mow down the natives of distant countries, 
 thus paving the way for the introduction of 
 Christianity ; and after the aborigines are almost 
 exterminated by such means, and by the vices 
 introduced by Europeans, there will be a rem- 
 nant only left for the missionaries to enlighten. 
 
 Extraordinary as have been the diffusions of 
 knowledge, the discoveries of science, the increase 
 of wealth, and the propagation of the Gospel, for 
 the last thirty years, they will appear insigni- 
 ficance itself compared with their progress when 
 the reign of justice shall commence, when esta- 
 blishments are formed in which children can be 
 trained in the way they should go, and when in- 
 stitutions are framed in the spirit of the holy 
 injunction, " Seek ye first the Kingdom of Hea- 
 ven, and all these things shall be added unto 
 you."
 
 THE HISTORIANS. 129 
 
 We may calculate upon the Bishop of St. 
 David's and upon Mr. Grote, for, each having 
 written a History of Greece, must be fully con- 
 vinced of the extraordinary influence of institu- 
 tions in moulding the character. Nor should we 
 be less sure of another historian, Mr. Thomas 
 Carlyle, and more particularly as he has brought 
 his researches to bear upon his own times. De- 
 nouncing the condition of the people in his 
 " Chartism," and in " Past and Present," he tells 
 those who know not what to do that " they will 
 find out if they try." But who should know 
 better than " such an honest chronicler as Grif- 
 fiths," if the uses of history are to be found in 
 the beacons it teaches us to avoid, and the light 
 it sheds upon our future progress ? 
 
 We may also be certain of the Bishop of 
 Oxford, bearing the honoured name of Wilber- 
 force, inheriting also the holy zeal of the most 
 fearless and powerful opponent of the spirit of 
 rivalry in schools, and colleges, and throughout 
 society.* 
 
 * See the chapter on the " Desire of Human Estimation 
 and Applause," in Wilberforce's " Practical Christianity."
 
 130 LETTER XIV. 
 
 Doubtless we shall have all the members of 
 the Animals' Friend Society, seeing how much 
 the ill-usage of horses is increased by competition, 
 by the furious driving of rival omnibuses, and by 
 the miserable hacks in cabs whose owners are too 
 poor to procure others of greater strength. Lately 
 three horses were rode to death in a steeple- 
 chase, by a class accustomed occasionally to 
 appeal to the wisdom of their forefathers a 
 wisdom which led them to build churches for a 
 holier purpose than that of horse-racing. I do 
 not find that the parties were brought before a 
 magistrate, as is the case with the working men, 
 whose cruelty is often the result of irritability 
 occasioned by their hard struggles, and the 
 necessity of urging on the poor beast in his work 
 to help a starving family. 
 
 Nor can there be much apprehension of a 
 want of adequate funds, when it is recollected 
 that towards a Model Farm in Africa 60 3 000/. 
 were subscribed and lost in one year ; that many 
 of the opulent members of the League contributed 
 each 1000/., and all, as they professed, for the 
 good of the people ; when we remember, also, 
 the large contributions towards the different
 
 RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES, J 31 
 
 Religious Societies,* all the objects of which will 
 be greatly promoted by merely lending the ne- 
 cessary funds for one example of the Self-sup- 
 porting Village. 
 
 * An unusually large sum has been placed to the credit of 
 the Religious Societies by the May Meetings for 1845 : 
 
 
 
 Church Missionary . J .' ' . 105,249 
 British and Foreign Bible . 85,817 
 
 London Missionary . . . 21,000 
 Eeligious Tract . , , 54,104 
 
 Wesley an Missionary , , , 109,188 
 Colonial Missionary . <; .' 3,388 
 
 Irish Evangelical , , , 2,641 
 Foreign Aid . .. , , . . 5,480 
 British Reformation , , . 1,514 
 Home Missionary . . . 8,600 
 
 Primitive Methodist . . . 2,567 
 London City Mission . . 5,979 
 
 London School Union . , 9,561 
 British and Foreign Sailors' , 2,072
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 London, May 1, 1846. 
 
 As you have expressed a desire to see the 
 Report of my visit to the Moravian Settlements 
 on the Continent, I send you the following copy. 
 
 REPORT REGARDING THE MORAVIAN SETTLEMENTS 
 ON THE CONTINENT. 
 
 " At a Provisional Meeting held at the Vestry 
 Room of St. Bride's, Fleet Street, London, on 
 Tuesday, June 22, 1841, for the purpose of 
 taking into consideration the Design of a Self- 
 supporting Institution, in connexion with the 
 Church of Jngland, for 300 poor families, pre- 
 sent, Rev. Thomas Dale, Rev. Edwin Prodgers, 
 Rev. James Hough, Mr. Gordon Forbes, Mr. J. M. 
 Morgan : 
 
 " It was resolved, ' That while the principles developed 
 in Mr. Morgan's Plan appear to this Committee capable 
 of being applied with benefit to the public, they con- 
 sider that more detailed information is necessary; that 
 Mr. Morgan be requested to obtain the information
 
 MORAVIAN SETTLEMENTS. 133 
 
 required, and to submit it to this Committee and to any 
 other gentlemen who may be disposed to meet them for 
 that purpose on Tuesday, September 7/ 
 
 " It was at the same time suggested, that if 
 facts could be adduced, especially those connected 
 with the Moravian Settlements, in illustration of 
 the principle of economy upon which it was pro- 
 posed to found the Self-supporting Institution, 
 the public would be more likely to attend to the 
 subject, although I believe the Committee were 
 convinced of the self-evident proposition, that the 
 greatest economy of time and talent in production 
 and consumption, consistent with moral and re- 
 ligious considerations, must necessarily be most 
 conducive to prosperity and happiness. 
 
 " Having applied to the Rev. Peter Latrobe for 
 an introduction to the different congregations, I 
 was favoured with such friendly letters as obtained 
 for me the most kind and assiduous attention at 
 all the settlements I have had an opportunity of 
 visiting ; and these are, Neuwied on the Rhine, 
 near Coblentz, Herrnhut near Zittau, Nisky near 
 Gorlitz, Kleinwelke near Bautzen, and Zeist near 
 Utrecht. 
 
 " The first settlement visited was Neuwied, a 
 town founded in the year 1737, by a prince who
 
 134 LETTER XV. 
 
 promised toleration to all the settlers, and it has 
 now rather more than 5000 inhabitants of dif- 
 ferent religious denominations ; the number of 
 Moravians is about 400. Soon after my arrival 
 I waited upon Bishop Gambs, who was out ; but 
 I was introduced to M. Merian, residing in the 
 same house, and is the inspector of the schools 
 as well as the chief or most active director. M. 
 Merian accompanied me over the whole of the 
 establishment. We first visited the boys' school, 
 which consisted of a number of light and plea- 
 sant rooms, each appropriated to a distinct class : 
 the number of boys is about seventy; they all 
 sleep in one large airy room, in which a lamp is 
 suspended from the centre : the teachers also are 
 in the same room, and there is always one in 
 rotation sitting up during the night. 
 
 " We then went over the house occupied by the 
 unmarried men, of whom there are about eighty. 
 We found them at their work in different rooms ; 
 in one a single individual was making up tippets 
 and muffs, his favourite occupation; in another 
 was one making gloves, stocks, and boys' caps ; 
 in others were three, four, and sometimes more, 
 making clothes, shoes, soap, candles, earthenware 
 stoves; there were also carpentering, cabinet-
 
 NEUWIED. 135 
 
 work, baking, and a large brewery. There are 
 shops open to the public for the sale of articles 
 not required for their own consumption. The 
 profit arising from these sales, together with that 
 from the schools and the hotel, furnish them with 
 the means of subsistence, the support of the 
 church, and with funds for their missions in 
 distant countries, the great object to which they 
 have dedicated their lives. 
 
 " Every trade has a manager receiving a fixed 
 salary, and to whom money is advanced for the 
 purchase of materials, and for the payment of 
 wages. When employing servants, as is fre- 
 quently the case, who are not of the congregation, 
 the brethren are very particular as to their general 
 character, and study their improvement. The 
 whole are under the direction of a warden, whose 
 office is distinct from that of the Warden of the 
 church. 
 
 " From the brothers' house we went to that of 
 the unmarried sisters, of whom there are about 
 100 : here also was a well-conducted school for 
 girls. The sisters who were not engaged in 
 education were at work in separate rooms ; in 
 each were from six to ten making articles either 
 for the establishment or for sale, for which pur-
 
 136 LETTER XV. 
 
 pose there is a room open to the public. Letting 
 apartments to approved tenants not of the con- 
 gregation is also a source of profit. 
 
 " In the brothers' as well as the sisters' houses, 
 of all the settlements, there is a large room fitted 
 up for public worship, with a small organ or some 
 other musical instrument. There is also a room 
 set apart for reading when the labour of the day 
 is done. 
 
 " From Neuwied I went forward to Herrnhut, 
 about sixty miles beyond Dresden. Bishop Huffel, 
 upon whom I first called, was too infirm to attend 
 to me, but M. John F. Roderer, the chief financier, 
 and brother-in-law of M. Latrobe, accompanied 
 me to Bersdorff, a village within a mile of Herrn- 
 hut, and introduced me to Bishop Anders and 
 M. Frauerf, one of the principal directors. 
 
 " Herrnhut is the chief settlement, and may be 
 considered the Moravians' seat of government, 
 where the synods are held, and all important 
 measures regarding their church and missions 
 originate. Persecuted in Moravia, in the year 
 1722, the brethren found refuge on the estates of 
 Count Zinzendorf, in Lusatia, where they built a 
 humble village, to which they gave the name of 
 Herrnhut. The Count himself, after resigning all
 
 HERRNHUT. 137 
 
 his worldly honours, was consecrated a Bishop of 
 the Unitas Fratrum in 1739. The population of 
 the town is now about 1400, of which near 1000 
 (including 112 unmarried brethren and 200 sis- 
 ters) belong to the congregation ; but the same 
 Christian spirit appears to animate all the inha- 
 bitants. Besides carrying on the same trades 
 as at Neuwied, there is a large tan-yard, and 
 manufactories for iron and brass, jewellery, and 
 button-making ; a considerable mercantile esta- 
 blishment is conducted under the firm of Abra- 
 ham Durminger and Co. by three brethren, who 
 each receive a salary j and there is also a small 
 day-school. 
 
 " In the sisters' house they have a scale of four 
 different prices for boarding, and a charge for 
 lodging according to the size of the room for 
 those who desire one exclusively. 
 
 " No person is allowed to reside in any of their 
 houses, not even at the hotel, for any length of 
 time, I believe, without the permission of the 
 congregation. At every settlement there is an 
 hotel belonging to the brethren, and at which I 
 always put up during my sojourn. At that of 
 Herrnhut, I found a Livonian nobleman of gen- 
 tlemanly deportment and extensive knowledge,
 
 138 LETTER XV. 
 
 Baron Aderkas, who had spent part of his early 
 life at the Court of Prussia. He had resided at 
 the hotel for three years, and in the evening 
 sometimes enlivened it by singing and playing 
 with considerable taste on his piano. The baron 
 was the only one in the house who could speak 
 French, and he was kind enough to become my 
 interpreter. 
 
 " Herrnhut is the oldest and by far the most 
 interesting settlement, being more remote from 
 general society, and having greater attractions 
 and advantages, than the more recent and less 
 isolated settlements. The avenues and the ceme- 
 tery, situate on a hill on the way to the Observ- 
 atory, on a still higher eminence commanding 
 an extensive and beautiful prospect the house 
 formerly the residence of Count Zinzendorf, con- 
 taining the Archives and Museum of Curiosities 
 from the missionaries the extensive gardens open 
 to the public and an adjacent hill laid out in 
 walks and plantations with rustic and ornamental 
 seats, from which delightful prospects are beheld, 
 all conspire to heighten the charms of this peace- 
 ful settlement. At all the stations music is cul- 
 tivated; but here the band is more complete, 
 and occasionally the congregation is summoned
 
 NISKY. 139 
 
 to the church by some of the trumpets being 
 played from one of the upper windows of the 
 building, while the effect is much heightened by 
 the appropriate character of the music. 
 
 " Before finally leaving Herrnhut I rode over, 
 with M. Roderer, to Nisky, a settlement about 
 twenty miles distant, and chiefly distinguished 
 by its superior boarding-school for about 100 
 boys ; it is conducted by one of the brethren, 
 M. Schordan, who maintains a high character 
 for great erudition and talent. I regret much 
 that I was unable to see him; but the school 
 arrangements appeared to be very complete, and 
 a German prince, whose son was educated there, 
 had just put up at his own expense an excellent 
 and costly apparatus for gymnastic exercises. 
 
 " The trades carried on here are tailoring, shoe- 
 making, tanning, carpentering, baking, coopering, 
 weaving, iron-work, besides agriculture, and an 
 apothecary's shop. Number in the congregation 
 between 500 and 600. 
 
 " The Moravians have a higher school or col- 
 lege on the borders of Silesia, where those from 
 eighteen to twenty -one years of age, intended for 
 the ministry, complete their education. 
 
 " The fourth settlement was at Kleinwelke near
 
 140 LETTER XV. 
 
 Bautzen, consisting of about 400 members of the 
 congregation. The same trades were carried on 
 here as at Herrnhut, with rather more of agricul- 
 ture ; but the chief interest at this place was in 
 the schools for the children of the missionaries, 
 between forty and fifty boys, and about the same 
 number of girls : many were orphans whose 
 parents had fallen victims to the climate in which 
 they had preached the Gospel. I never saw any 
 boarding-school in England where the children 
 were more comfortably provided for in every 
 respect, or appeared so happy : separate rooms 
 were appropriated to the different classes, and 
 here, as in all the other schools, the children 
 sleep singly. As we visited the different classes, 
 the good Pastor Ultsh seemed to take pleasure 
 in referring to the widely separated parts of the 
 globe in which the children had been born ; 
 pointing to each in succession, he said, ' from 
 Labrador,' ' from Africa,' ' from Surinam,' 
 ' from Greenland,' ' from the West Indies,' &c. 
 Twenty-five of the brethren work at an esta- 
 blishment for making church bells belonging to 
 M. Ghrul, who is not of the congregation. 
 
 " The last settlement I had an opportunity of 
 seeing was that of Zeist near Utrecht, in Holland ;
 
 ZEIST. 141 
 
 the number of members about 400. Besides the 
 same description of trades and manufactures as 
 at other stations, there are seven or eight shops 
 or rooms, in which a great variety of articles are 
 sold in addition to those made at the establish- 
 ment, as well as two boarding-schools for boys 
 and girls : profit was also derived from letting 
 some of the apartments to respectable individuals 
 not belonging to the congregation. The Rev. 
 P. Raillard accompanied me through the sisters' 
 house and schools, and I could not but remark 
 the great regard and respect that was everywhere 
 evinced towards him ; and, indeed, in all the 
 settlements I was impressed with the idea that 
 the pastor or bishop at the head of the establish- 
 ment appeared to be precisely that individual 
 best qualified by his intelligence, kind feelings, 
 and manners for the highest office. 
 
 " When one settlement sustains any material 
 loss, aid is imparted from those more prosperous. 
 
 " Since my return M. Latrobe introduced to 
 me M. Breutel, the principal director of Herrnhut, 
 now on his return from Antigua and other West 
 India islands ; he was about to visit the settle- 
 ments in this country and in Denmark. He 
 observed, in reference to the commercial concerns
 
 142 LETTER XV. 
 
 of the settlements, that in his experience of 
 twenty- five years he never knew one to fail 
 where there was faithfulness and capacity. 
 
 " From what has preceded, it must be obvious 
 that there are few details common to ah 1 the 
 Moravian settlements. Agreeing in the general 
 principle of combining for the purpose of pro- 
 moting their own spiritual improvement and the 
 planting of Christianity in the uncivilised parts 
 of the globe, all their regulations, and, as much 
 as possible, all their temporal affairs, are made 
 subservient to these important ends. As to the 
 mode or degree in which this is effected, much 
 depends upon local and other circumstances, the 
 capabilities and probable success of the brethren 
 in their respective trades, the wants of the neigh- 
 bourhood, and how far they can meet the com- 
 petition of external society. For instance, at 
 Herrnhut there is no boarding-school ; having no 
 educator equal to M. Schordan at Nisky, many 
 children are sent there from Herrnhut. At Nisky, 
 situate in a remote and desolate country where 
 few strangers are seen, two shops are scantily 
 though sufficiently supplied; while at Zeist, in 
 the centre of a highly civilized and populous 
 country, and much visited, there are no fewer than
 
 SUPREMACY OF RELIGION. 143 
 
 seven or eight shops for the sale of numerous 
 articles, besides those made on the spot. 
 
 " The most striking feature in all the proceed- 
 ings of the United Brethren, is the intimate con- 
 nexion that subsists between religion and secular 
 affairs. The former is never lost sight of, but, 
 on the contrary, is constantly the governing 
 principle, and is visible in their intercourse with 
 each other. In all new undertakings, in all 
 changes, or when any misunderstanding arises, a 
 conference is called of the bishop or pastor, the 
 wardens and managers ; hence, in every measure 
 proposed, its bearing upon the interests of re- 
 ligion is the chief consideration. Thus, all that 
 concerns the members of whatever age, individually 
 or collectively, commercial pursuits, amusements, 
 schools, in short, all the transactions of life, are 
 brought under the immediate direction and con- 
 trol of religion. This plan, at once simple and 
 comprehensive, becomes easy of execution (any 
 unforeseen counteracting influence being, in ge- 
 neral, soon corrected), and when adopted at the 
 missionary stations renders them more efficient, 
 and enables the brethren to make great progress 
 with very limited resources. 
 
 " There is a German phrase signifying ' Prayer
 
 144 LETTER XV. 
 
 and Labour/ which seems to characterise the 
 Moravian settlements ; and singularly applicable 
 to the brethren is the remark of Locke, that 
 ' for a man to attend to his religion and to his 
 particular calling is generally sufficient to take 
 up his whole time.' Habitually occupied in 
 their several trades, they become unconscious of 
 that monotony which is felt by a stranger, though 
 relieved in some degree by the cultivation of 
 music. There appears to be no public library, 
 nor much encouragement given to scientific pur- 
 suits and discoveries; these might involve expense, 
 distract attention, and prevent that concentration 
 of mind to the one great object to which all their 
 thoughts and energies are devoted. But that 
 very omission, to which the brethren may have 
 been in some measure indebted for extraordinary 
 success in a specific and most important branch 
 of Christian duties, renders the Moravian settle- 
 ment imperfect as the model of a Christian Com- 
 munity, embracing all the legitimate objects of 
 human society. The study of the sciences, the 
 practice of the arts, and the prosecution of dis- 
 coveries, present an inexhaustible field for the 
 exercise of the diversified talents of mankind, 
 and for that enterprise and excitement which,
 
 SELF-SUPPORTING INSTITUTION. 145 
 
 if not called forth by purer and higher aspira- 
 tions, are too often wasted upon objects useless 
 or pernicious. 
 
 "Considered, however, with reference to the Self- 
 supporting Institution for the Working Classes, 
 the Moravian settlement offers an admirable ex- 
 ample in the spirit in which it is conducted, and 
 some useful hints in its economy. At all the 
 settlements, excepting that of Nisky, where the 
 principal director was absent, the Design of the 
 Self-supporting Institution was examined with as 
 great care as the shortness of time would admit, 
 and the necessity of much caution was urged in 
 permitting none but religious and disinterested 
 characters to share in the chief direction of an 
 experiment, in the result of which they expressed 
 themselves deeply interested. To what extent 
 the general principles are approved will be seen 
 by the four documents containing their written 
 opinions, and by the substance of their replies 
 to a list of queries prepared rather as memor- 
 anda for my own guidance than to be formally 
 proposed.* 
 
 * The following is a document signed at Neuwied : 
 " We have with great interest taken into consideration the 
 Plan of a Self-supporting Institution for the Poor, which Mr. 
 
 H
 
 146 LETTER XV. 
 
 " It was observed at Herrnhut, that the Institu- 
 tion would have one great advantage over the 
 Settlement in the facilities afforded for the re- 
 moval of any incompetent manager, a difficulty 
 always experienced at Herrnhut if his conduct 
 was in other respects estimable. 
 
 "The advantages derived at the settlements from 
 letting apartments may suggest the expediency 
 of converting one side of the square, or a given 
 number of cottages on each side of the clergy- 
 Morgan, during hig stay here, has communicated to us both 
 orally and in writing. We rejoice to hope that the Lord may 
 grant his rich blessing to an Institution in which the principle 
 ' pray and work ' is to be made throughout a primary principle. 
 We do not doubt that the proposed arrangements of the Insti- 
 tution in question are highly appropriate ; but it appears to us 
 difficult to obtain an altogether satisfactory result, if an Insti- 
 tution of this kind is to be established upon so great a scale. 
 Judging tfy our own experience, we should think it less difficult 
 and more appropriate to establish several small Institutions of 
 this kind, because in them it would be easier to preserve order 
 in the details, and to maintain throughout the spirit of a 
 Christian life. 
 
 " We give expression to our cordial wish that the Lord may 
 bestow his blessing in rich measure upon the execution of this 
 beautiful plan. 
 
 " G. GAMBS, 
 
 " Bishop of the Church of the Brethren. 
 "Neuwied, August 1841. 
 
 " J. R. MERIAN, 
 
 " Inspector of the Educational Establish- 
 ments of the Settlement."
 
 MISSIONARIES. 147 
 
 man's and governor's houses, into private dwell- 
 ings for respectable families or individuals who 
 would feel interested in upholding the moral and 
 religious character of the Institution. In that 
 case a school, in which the classics and the 
 higher branches of learning could be taught, 
 might be established in the horticultural or 
 botanical garden. 
 
 " The large building at the entrance might be 
 devoted to a superior hotel, permitting none but 
 shareholders to reside longer than a week without 
 the special permission of the Governor or the 
 Committee.* 
 
 " So far as the Moravian Brethren aim at ame- 
 liorating the condition, simultaneously with the 
 spiritual improvement of those who are to be 
 benefited by their labours, the design of the 
 Settlement is identical with that of the proposed 
 Institution, differing only in the sphere of opera- 
 tion : the former seeks its objects in distant 
 countries, the latter in Europe ; the one proclaims 
 the truths of the Gospel to heathen nations, the 
 other endeavours to revive the vitality of religion 
 among professing Christians. There is no reason, 
 
 * For the Plan, see " The Christian Commonwealth."
 
 148 LETTER XV. 
 
 however, why the Self-supporting Institution 
 should not include the aims of both with great 
 and reciprocal advantages, and constitute a train- 
 ing school for missionaries, since that spirit which 
 has prompted them to dedicate their lives to a 
 sacred cause, would qualify them in an eminent 
 degree for assistant-managers, while they would 
 themselves acquire much practical knowledge and 
 experience. Another advantage might result from 
 their residing at the Institution, the missionary 
 cause would probably become popular. Instances 
 have occurred of the missionaries falling victims 
 to the prejudices excited against them, in conse- 
 quence of the bad conduct of their own country- 
 men towards some of the tribes who composed 
 their congregation ; if, on the contrary, they were 
 accompanied in their arduous enterprize by a 
 number of artizans and their families, like them- 
 selves, devoted to the service of their Maker, 
 dangers would be diminished and their success 
 far more certain. 
 
 " If it should be inquired, why the principle of 
 the Moravian settlement has not been more 
 generally adopted? it must not be disguised 
 that the brethren have not been without their 
 pecuniar}' difficulties, and more especially in
 
 AMERICAN COMMUNITIES. 149 
 
 these latter times of commercial perplexity; neither 
 have they escaped those expressions of discontent 
 from which no human institutions can be entirely 
 exempt. They have sometimes stood in need of ex- 
 traneous support, and bequests of land, &c. have 
 occasionally aided their progress ; but whether sus- 
 tained by success in commerce or by the friendly 
 contributions of those who sympathised in their 
 pious endeavours, faith in the promises of God 
 and a steadfast perseverance in good works have 
 seldom failed them. Long since it was said that 
 ' The love of money is the root of all evil,' and 
 of all its wretched results there is not one more 
 extensive and destructive in its pernicious effects, 
 or more inimical to the Christian virtues, than 
 Competition : we are often reminded of the good 
 it has done, but rarely of its attendant evils. 
 ' Whence come wars and fightings ? ' asks the 
 Apostle, and among the causes enumerated ' emu- 
 lation' is conspicuous. The settlements have ex- 
 cluded it, because they admit no rival trades ; 
 but still they have not, and perhaps could not, 
 under existing circumstances, banish the circula- 
 tion of money from within their own establish- 
 ments : but in commencing a Society de novo, the 
 nearer the approximation towards an entire de-
 
 150 LETTER XV. 
 
 pendence upon the love of God and man, as the 
 sole principle of action, the greater the probability 
 of success. 
 
 " Fanatics in America, professing different dog- 
 mas but of equal extravagance, have established 
 communities from which competition is excluded, 
 and have increased rapidly in wealth : surely such 
 a principle of economy could not fail to succeed, 
 or to exhibit very superior results, if adopted by 
 an Association commencing with more ample 
 means, with various scientific appliances, under 
 the guidance of a higher degree of intelligence, 
 and consecrated by a purer faith." 
 
 The following are the General Replies to the Questions 
 proposed at the different Settlements. 
 
 In the Moravian settlements, has the Christian prin- 
 ciple of love to God and man furnished an adequate 
 motive to persevering and successful exertion ? 
 It has. 
 
 Has the energetic individual, actuated by this motive, 
 accomplished as much as the individual of an equal
 
 REPLIES TO THE QUESTIONS. 151 
 
 degree of native energy, but influenced by the desire 
 of surpassing others and of possessing more exclu- 
 sively ? * 
 
 Much more. 
 
 Has the absence of competition in the Moravian 
 settlements given more freedom to the exercise of 
 Christian love? 
 // has. 
 
 Has its absence tended to diminish energy of cha- 
 racter ? 
 
 Not in the least. 
 
 Have the arrangements of the settlements facilitated 
 the education and moral training of children, by com- 
 bining the advantages of a public with those of a private 
 education ? 
 
 Decidedly, 
 
 Have the arrangements preserved the children more 
 effectually from the contagion of the bad examples in 
 general society ? 
 
 Certainly, but more in some settlements than in 
 others. 
 
 * The desire of excellence and the desire of excelling others 
 are too widely different motives, the one constant and in- 
 creasing, the other fluctuating and dependent upon time and 
 circumstances.
 
 152 LETTER XV. 
 
 Has there been much saving of labour in raising 
 food, or in making articles necessary for the establish- 
 ment ? 
 
 Vegetables only have been cultivated, and the use of 
 machinery in large manufactories has enabled us 
 to buy some articles at less cost than we who have 
 no machinery could make them. 
 
 Has there been much saving in the purchase of 
 articles in consequence of obtaining them in large 
 quantities ? 
 
 In some instances. 
 
 Has there been much saving in domestic economy 
 in preparing the food upon a large scale ? 
 Decidedly. 
 
 Has there been much saving in the lodgings, or in 
 any other branch of domestic economy ? 
 
 In the lodgings there is a saving when the rooms are 
 all occupied.
 
 APPENDIX, 
 
 Report of the Proceedings of a Public Meeting of the 
 " Church of England Self-supporting Village Society," 
 held on Wednesday, May 27, 1846, at Exeter 
 Hall. 
 
 A MEETING of the friends of the above Society took 
 place at Exeter Hall on Wednesday evening the 27th of 
 Maj r , and was most respectably and numerously attended. 
 Among the gentlemen on the platform were the Right 
 Rev. the Lord Bishop of Norwich, Lord John Manners, 
 M.P., Sir H. Verney, J. C. Colquhoun, Esq., M.P., Rev. 
 E. R. Larken, Rev. Hugh Hughes, Rev. W. W. Ellis, 
 Rev. Robt. Montgomery, Rev. Joseph Brown, Rev. J. E. 
 Keane, Rev. J. T. Burt, Rev. J. H. Simpson, Rev. H. P. 
 Haughton, Rev. Joseph Ketley, Rev. R. Monro, Daniel 
 Gaskell, Esq., J. S. Buckingham, Esq., Capt. Maconochie, 
 R.N., J. M. Morgan, Esq., &c. &c. 
 
 The Hon. WILLIAM F. COWPER, M.P., in the chair. 
 
 Prayers having been read by the Rev. Robert Mont- 
 gomery 
 
 H 2
 
 1 54 APPENDIX. 
 
 Letters expressing regret at being unable to attend 
 were read from William Wordsworth, Esq., A. Stafford 
 O'Brien, Esq., M.P., John Labouchere, Esq., John Hardy, 
 Esq. M.P., Rev. J. G. Brett, Rev. J. D. Glennie, Rev. 
 R. Bowes, Rev. E. Auriol, Rev. Sir H. Dukinfield, Lord 
 Morpeth, Lord Ducie, Lord Grey, Hon. W. Ashley, 
 Lord Bishop of Oxford, Archdeacon Manning, and from 
 the Rev. James Hough, who observed, " I cannot see why 
 a Home Colony should not answer as well as one in New 
 Zealand or any other distant land." 
 
 The Hon. CHAIRMAN said When I was requested to 
 take this chair I could not refuse, though I feel regret that 
 some one more qualified for this position had not been 
 selected. I have no scheme of my own to present to the 
 meeting, and I consider that we are met together to hear 
 what certain gentlemen who have given much attention to 
 the subject have to suggest. I feel confident that a plan 
 may be framed which shall attain the object desired with- 
 out being open to the objections urged against previous 
 ones ; and I am persuaded that in the direction towards 
 which the promoters of this meeting have called our atten- 
 tion, some great alleviation of the hard destiny of the 
 working-classes is to be found. We are in the situation 
 of people digging in a field for a treasure which we believe 
 to be somewhere about but know not exactly where. The 
 main principle upon which the progress of civilisation de- 
 pends is the principle of combination, the concentration 
 of combined efforts. The division of labour or the joint 
 action of many workmen in the production of one article 
 has been the first stage in manufacturing success, and the 
 combination of capital is an indispensable feature in all 
 commercial enterprises. The clubs of London shew how 
 the principle of combination can be applied to the increase
 
 APPENDIX. 155 
 
 of luxury. Palaces are reared containing comforts for a 
 large body of men which they could not have individually 
 and separately. But the benefits to be derived from com- 
 bination have not yet been extended as they might be to 
 the social existence of the hand-labour classes. We have, 
 indeed, seen some attempts lately made in dwelling-houses. 
 There are three societies seeking to improve the manner 
 of living in London for the poor by combining the resi- 
 dence of many families, or many single men under oiTe 
 roof, so that more comfort can be enjoyed at a less ex- 
 pense than in the old custom of living in small separate 
 houses. The advantage of the principle of combination 
 is also beginning to be shewn in large establishments of 
 baths and wash-houses. It remains for us now to ascer- 
 tain how concentration and combination can be applied to 
 the whole working and social existence of aggregated 
 numbers of persons, so that they may have a personal in- 
 terest and personal property included in and subordinate 
 to the common interest and the common property of the 
 whole. I believe in this direction much increase of ma- 
 terial well-being is to be found. It also appears that the 
 ruling principle which Christianity enjoins in the inter- 
 course between man and man has never yet been fully 
 applied to the social and industrial arrangements of a 
 country ; these have not hitherto been directed by the 
 spirit of love and of mutual participation in differing wants 
 and cases. We have gone upon the old principle which 
 I fear still prevails among Christians, as it did among 
 heathen nations, of each looking to his own interest and 
 trusting that the interest of the whole would be secured by 
 each member caring for himself. Now I am anxious to at- 
 tempt something of a different sort. Let us try whether the 
 principle of mutual love and of associated assistance be not 
 at least as powerful as that of selfishness. (Cheers.) Union
 
 156 APPENDIX. 
 
 is strength, and in union also will be found goodness and 
 happiness. It is true, that many experiments in com- 
 munism have failed ; but was it not because they began 
 with a material combination, and never attained to a 
 mental, a moral, and a religious combination ? A material 
 association can only produce material results, and not 
 always that; but an union in the objects of life, an union 
 of feeling, an union in worship, are necessary to a really 
 effectual union of action. A system of co-operation 
 founded on disbelief of the higher destiny and spiritual 
 nature of man could not be expected to prosper (Cheers) ; 
 for such an attempt, proceeding from a disregard of Divine 
 Revelation, springs from ignorance of what is most im- 
 portant in man, and will ultimately prove inadequate to 
 supply his wants or to raise his condition. I trust the 
 scheme which is now to be explained to us, while it pro- 
 ceeds upon a religious principle, in applying the principles 
 of association and co-operation, will be such as to improve 
 not only the material welfare, but also the social and 
 moral well-being, of the people. The mode in which the 
 experiment can most easily be made is by the cultivation 
 of waste land ; and certainly we have many examples of 
 such land being beneficially reclaimed, and men who have 
 a personal interest in the result of their work ; and if such 
 a scheme were attempted here, I believe it would be very 
 feasible. I shall now call upon the Right Reverend the 
 Lord Bishop of Norwich to move the first resolution. 
 
 The BISHOP OF NORWICH said, I must commence 
 by observing that I am here not as a teacher not with a 
 view of giving you information, but rather as a learner. 
 I should wish to hear as no doubt I shall hear from 
 other gentlemen who are more competent some details; 
 though, generally speaking, I have made myself acquainted
 
 APPENDIX. 157 
 
 with the details of this sort of system and the principal 
 arguments in its favour. I must express my satisfaction 
 at finding a larger assembly than I expected on such an 
 occasion ; because on this occasion we are assembled to 
 introduce a subject which is not connected with any party 
 whatever, except the party of pure benevolence. If we 
 were holding ultra views connected with any of the great 
 religious denominations if we were advocating political 
 principles, either of the one extreme or the other, there is 
 no doubt that we might have filled the large room up- 
 stairs. But we are met on a better footing ; we come here 
 on the Christian principle of endeavouring to ameliorate 
 the condition of the poor, and of pointing out to them the 
 means by which they may be the means of increasing their 
 own welfare and happiness, religious and moral, as well as 
 material. (Cheers.) Every one of us, I have no doubt, 
 is agreed upon this object. There can be no question 
 that our object is to promote the welfare of the people. 
 Whether we shall be able to carry it out by the system to 
 be proposed this evening, and which is now before us for 
 consideration, is quite a different question. Many excel- 
 lent theories, in spite of every exertion, turn out contrary 
 to expectation when we attempt to reduce them to prac- 
 tice. Why is this ? It is in human nature so to be. 
 There are prejudices to be overcome ; and it is extraor- 
 dinary how prejudices introduce themselves into the most 
 secret recesses of the human mind. I can well recollect 
 that when I first heard of this institution, and mentioned 
 it to others, prejudices were excited immediately; because 
 Mr. Morgan talked of squares and parallelograms, imme- 
 diately the ghost of Mr. Owen's plan rose up before peo- 
 ple's imaginations ; and I believe that phantom very nearly 
 nipped the whole scheme in the bud. He now simply 
 proposes to establish a village, no matter what its form
 
 158 APPENDIX. 
 
 shall be, whether square, or circus, or streets, but an 
 aggregation of buildings, which shall accommodate 300 
 families, which, taking four or five to a family, we may 
 consider to amount to 1200 or 1500 individuals. The 
 object is to shew that by mutual instruction and help their 
 accumulated strength may tend to the material benefit of 
 all. Many here may not be aware of the difficulties and 
 the losses which the working-classes suffer from not being 
 able to act together. Every clergyman must agree with 
 me as to this, from his experience in his own parish. I 
 have known instances of the working-classes paying ten, 
 twenty, nay, as much as thirty per cent beyond the real 
 value of various articles, simply because they either can- 
 not, or they will not, or they know not how to act toge- 
 ther. Take the instance of tea, for example : I remember 
 once making a calculation, from which I found that a cot- 
 tager drinking wretched tea so diluted with water as 
 hardly to deserve the name of tea paid at the rate of 10s. 
 or 12s. per pound, which was not probably worth more 
 than 6s. The reason was very obvious : he was too poor to 
 buy a whole pound at a time ; but had he been rich enough 
 to buy a whole chest at once, or even a pound, it would have 
 ensured a considerable saving ; but he buys an ounce ; and 
 then there is the paper in which it is wrapped, the deficient 
 weight, and other things to be accounted, as well as the 
 interests of intermediate parties sometimes to satisfy, all 
 conspiring to raise his ounce of tea considerably beyond 
 its fair value. Then, again, came their suspicions, and ob- 
 jections, and prejudices, when it was proposed that they 
 should club together for the purchase of a large quantity, 
 to be divided amongst them as they wanted it ; they ob- 
 jected, they preferred to be independent. Now, far be it 
 from me to check the spirit of independence in England ; 
 God forbid that I should be opposed to its real spirit I
 
 APPENDIX. 159 
 
 (Hear.) But in practice it may be carried too far, from 
 not understanding the advantages of mutual dependence 
 upon each other. A thousand men travelling singly in a 
 desert would be set upon and easily destroyed by roving 
 barbarians, but form this thousand men into a regiment, 
 and they would do what the British army did at the Sutlej 
 drive their enemies before them. (Hear.) And this 
 principle would be found to be applicable, not only to an 
 army, but also to people living in a village. Our object, 
 therefore, is to get rid of these prejudices, and to endea- 
 vour, by dismissing the question of squares or parallel- 
 ograms, if we can, to approximate to the object which I, 
 which Mr. Morgan, and which all of us, have in view ; 
 for I have no hesitation in saying, that if you could "faring 
 three hundred families together, all bound to labour to- 
 gether according to a systematic plan, you would give 
 them double the advantages which they would acquire if 
 they were dotted down and fixed in single cottages in any 
 given position, whether the wildest or most cultivated in 
 England. 
 
 Our Chairman has very properly alluded to the esta- 
 blishment for baths and wash-houses for the working- 
 classes. I have been there to-day, and I would recom- 
 mend to any of you who have half an hour to inspect 
 them, persuaded, as I am, that you will view them with 
 equal interest and satisfaction. Whether that establish- 
 ment will succeed or not may be a different question, but 
 it deserves success, and I heartily wish that, as a specu- 
 lation, it may yield an encouraging and ample interest. 
 But the object of the promoters, I believe, is not money ; 
 it is pure benevolence. If, however, they can realise a 
 fortune, they may enjoy it with the satisfactory feeling of 
 having at the same time promoted the benefit of their 
 fellow-creatures.
 
 160 APPENDIX. 
 
 But another objection has been made to this scheme. 
 It is feared by some that there will be a sort of free 
 trade in religion, that the whole matter will be left so 
 vague that in the end there will come to be no religion at 
 all. But in our proposed institution this cannot be said ; 
 because among the cluster of cottages, first, and above all, 
 rises the spire of a Church of England. (Cheers, and a 
 solitary hiss.) It is possible that some may consider an 
 allusion to this intention and advantage as savouring of a 
 system of exclusiveness. But on what grounds? We 
 as members of the Church of England have not only an 
 undoubted right, but should consider it as a paramount 
 duty, to provide for those of our own communion. At 
 the same time, no friend of the proposed measure would, 
 I am persuaded, discourage or reject others disposed to 
 join us ; far from it, as Christian brethren we would open 
 wide our doors and stretch forth the right hand of fellow- 
 ship to others inclining to unite in this social compact. 
 The promoter's object is the happiness of all, and are we 
 not justified in encouraging a hope that, if the well-dis- 
 posed of other denominations meet us in a Christian spirit, 
 differences of opinion may wear away, and the whole com- 
 munity become as one united family of one mind and one 
 heart? and thus I would further hope that, under the 
 management of a good working clergyman, these villages 
 will materially strengthen and confirm the Church of 
 England, that the religious services established in them 
 will be a source of gratitude to very many, and that many 
 of those who might love to scoff will remain to pray. 
 
 In other respects great advantages will be gained. I 
 went the other day to visit another establishment, which 
 I would also recommend you to visit ; it is as yet, how- 
 ever, quite in its infancy. It is situated in the neigh- 
 bourhood near the London University, where a small
 
 APPENDIX. 161 
 
 street has been built, composed of tenements of a limited 
 size, the rents of which vary from Is. 6d. to 6*. per week, 
 and it was gratifying to observe the arrangements for an 
 increase of cleanliness and comfort among the dwellings 
 of the humbler classes ; and I am happy to say that the 
 inmates seemed fully to appreciate those advantages, which 
 they could not have obtained had the dwellings been se- 
 parate. (Cheers.) My resolution goes to the destitute 
 and unsatisfactory condition of the working people of this 
 country, both in the agricultural and manufacturing dis- 
 tricts. Those who have not been in the habit of visiting 
 the dwellings of the poor can have no conception of the 
 misery and destitution which are to be found, not only in 
 this great city, not only in the large provincial towns, but 
 even in the country villages in various parts of the em- 
 pire, particularly in the manufacturing districts where there 
 are large congregated masses of people, their wretched- 
 ness and misery surpass all conception. In Norwich, the 
 average receipts of many young women are in some in- 
 stances as low as Is. a-week, the highest not exceeding 
 6*., very few indeed obtaining that sum ; in fact, this latter 
 amount cannot be called an average, because they re- 
 ceive it only when their looms are in full work, but then, 
 should a check in trade or a suspension of labour or a 
 strike interfere, they are thrown out of work and com- 
 pelled to the idleness of what is called a holyday, a season 
 partaking of any thing but joyousness ; and the real ave- 
 rage rate, therefore, of even the apparently highest paid, 
 cannot be estimated at more than 4s. a-week. It really 
 makes the heart bleed to think how human beings can 
 manage to live upon such small earnings, out of which 
 they have to provide themselves with lodgings, food, and 
 clothing ; and how can we expect that amidst all these 
 miseries and privations, females in this class of life should
 
 162 APPENDIX. 
 
 continue in the paths which we are so anxious to lead 
 them in, the paths of virtue and religion ? but we may 
 expect that the happiness and comfort in life which these 
 institutions are calculated to afford will help them into 
 this right path. I speak with some authority on this 
 point, having partially tried an experiment on a small 
 scale in providing homes for individuals so situated ; we 
 gave no pecuniary advantages, the simple lodging was 
 alone offered, under fixed regulations, for the most re- 
 spectable and best-conducted young women who wished 
 to avail themselves of our offer ; and I am happy to say 
 that applications are increasing, and that our inmates 
 express themselves grateful for what we do for them, 
 and who by this means enjoy a degree of comfort and 
 happiness which it is very gratifying to witness, even 
 though some of them earn no more than Is. 6d. a-week. 
 The establishment in some points has a relation to 
 that which is here proposed. In the case before us, 
 indeed, a considerable outlay of money will be neces- 
 sary in the first instance ; 45,000/., I think, for building 
 purposes, exclusive of the land, of which it is proposed 
 to take 1000 acres, part of which may be waste land. 
 I think from the interest that all people take in agri- 
 cultural habits and pursuits, that this land will be well 
 cultivated, and that a fair interest for the outlay may 
 accrue, and not only for the outlay upon the land, but 
 upon the buildings ; because it must be remembered 
 that 22,000/. of that money is to be spent upon the 
 erection of cottages, for which there will be a correspond- 
 ing rent ; and a very small rent, indeed, will yield from 
 2| to 3 per cent, with which a benevolent person will be 
 satisfied. It is an experiment, which, had I the com- 
 mand of money, I should feel well disposed to try on the 
 large scale proposed by Mr. Morgan. (Cheers.) But as
 
 APPENDIX. 163 
 
 I said, we have great obstacles to encounter ; we are, in 
 fact, surrounded with difficulties, though we live in a 
 country teeming with benevolence, with a wish to do 
 good, even at railroad speed ; nevertheless whatever may 
 be the objections, obstacles, and difficulties, I would hope 
 for the best, and trust that all may be overcome in trying 
 an experiment which has for its aim and object the wel- 
 fare of the humbler classes. (Cheers.) God grant that 
 if we can succeed in bringing it before the public atten- 
 tion, we shall be sowing the seeds of the harvest of which 
 we shall all rejoice. I will not trespass longer upon your 
 time, other speakers will enter more into details ; mean- 
 time I shall content myself with proposing the first reso- 
 lution; and I will add that those evils to which the reso- 
 lution refers would be remedied if institutions like this 
 were to be supported. (Cheers.) 
 
 His Lordship then moved the first resolution, as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 " That tbe frequent recurrence of numerous and afflicting cases of 
 destitution, and the unsatisfactory condition of the people, both in the 
 agricultural and manufacturing districts, as well as in large towns and 
 cities, arising from precarious and ill-requited employment, in a country 
 abounding and increasing in wealth, and professing Christianity, are 
 evils which could and ought to be remedied." 
 
 Lord JOHN MANNERS, in seconding the resolution, 
 observed, I rise to second the resolution which has been 
 so ably proposed by the Right Rev. Bishop of Nor- 
 wich ; and in doing so, I must say, agreeing with what 
 fell from his lordship and from our excellent chairman, 
 that I think we are here more to hear than to explain 
 the principles of the institution which is now about, let 
 us hope, to be founded. I think that the resolution
 
 164 APPENDIX. 
 
 which the Right Rev. Bishop has proposed, and which 
 I have the honour to second, can receive no contradic- 
 tion from any one who has paid the slightest attention 
 to the reports and proceedings which have of late thrown 
 light upon the social condition of the English people. I 
 grieve to say, that there is no one clause of it which is 
 not painfully and accurately borne out by those public 
 documents which have lately arrested our attention. I 
 agree, then, with the terms of the resolution, that in this 
 country there is an alarming and increasing amount of 
 evil which can and ought to be remedied. The ques- 
 tion is, whether an institution of this kind would or would 
 not have a fair chance of remedying these great and 
 acknowledged evils. It seems to me, that we are able to 
 see in the success of various experiments made, not in 
 England alone, but throughout the world, even when not 
 based on the principle of religious love, the advantages of 
 combination ; and that the same system, based on higher 
 principles now, is likely to achieve great and good results. 
 It may be known to some, that an attempt has been made 
 in Holland to set the poor people to reclaim a vast tract 
 of land, and that that attempt has been eminently success- 
 ful in a social, if not altogether a pecuniary point of view ; 
 and I believe I may say, that the colony of Frederichoord 
 maintains in comfort and happiness a number of people 
 who but for it would have been left to starve. I myself 
 have witnessed, in one of our English counties, the iso- 
 lated efforts of a number of people to reclaim a bog of 
 1500 acres. That experiment has met with striking suc- 
 cess ; but they had to contend against great difficulties 
 from their efforts being isolated, each being quartered on 
 his own tract, without realising any of the advantages of 
 neighbourhood or friendly assistance ; and yet I have 
 seen in this district of the county of Flint luxuriant crops
 
 APPENDIX. 165 
 
 waving, where, six years ago, there was nothing but a 
 sterile bog and rnorass. (Cheers.) Then I say we are 
 not without data to go upon, when we assume that the 
 land of England does afford a real and efficient remedy 
 for the many evils which at present exist among the 
 labouring classes of society ; and we may also assume, 
 that if the principle of combination can be brought to 
 bear upon the reclaiming of wild tracts of land, we may 
 hope to see a happier, a more Christian, and a more social 
 state of things yet arise amongst us. The gentleman who is 
 the promoter of this scheme ought, as the Lord Bishop 
 has said, to receive every credit for the unwearied pains 
 he has taken, and the attention he has given to all the 
 circumstances of this great scheme ; and I trust, that 
 before this meeting is over, we shall hear an ample and 
 detailed account of the means by which he proposes to 
 make it answer its end. We have heard something of 
 parallelograms, I will not say that we are pledged to any 
 particular scheme, or to any set of details ; but I believe 
 that the principle as laid down by the chairman and by 
 the Bishop of Norwich is a practicable, sound, and valu- 
 able principle ; and I hope that the result of this evening 
 will be, that we shall ere long see the experiment tried, 
 at first on a small, and ultimately, I trust, on a national 
 scale. With these few observations, I conclude by 
 seconding the resolution. (Cheers.) 
 
 The resolution was then put and carried. 
 
 J. S. BUCKINGHAM, in moving the next resolution, viz. 
 
 " That the benefits resulting, in the Moravian Settlements, from a 
 more intimate connexion between secular and religious affairs, and the 
 rapid accumulation of wealth in some religious societies constituted 
 upon a similar principle in America, encourage a well-grounded hope 
 that associations of the unemployed poor, under the direction of intel-
 
 166 APPENDIX. 
 
 ligent members of our own pure and reformed Church, with all the 
 facilities and scientific appliances this country affords, would realise 
 advantages still more important ;" 
 
 said, he had been much struck with an observation made 
 by the excellent prelate the Bishop of Norwich, to the 
 effect, that many an excellent theory, with all the pains 
 they could take, was found to be bad in practice, and that 
 the failures which thus occurred frequently led the un- 
 reflecting to proceed no farther. Happily, they were able 
 to shew that in this case theory and practice were in com- 
 plete harmony, and examples might be presented both 
 from past and present times, to shew that the theory was 
 capable of being carried out to its full extent in practice. 
 As to the theory of the matter, its whole object was to 
 prevent the waste of labour, by concentrating within a 
 narrow circle those efforts which would otherwise be 
 extended and wasted over a broad surface. It was im- 
 possible not to be struck with this observation, that no 
 great things had ever been accomplished except by the 
 power of association ; and that if the world was split up 
 into units, and each was to till his own particular portion of 
 land, each to make the garment he wore, and to cook the 
 dish he ate, in fact, if each were to be reduced to the condi- 
 tion of Robinson Crusoe, they would lose that high state of 
 civilisation to which they had attained, and would be cast 
 back to unmitigated barbarism. On the other hand, those 
 nations which were distinguished for their supremacy 
 over others were the nations in which the principle of 
 association was carried out to its full extent, where they 
 were acted upon most universally. Why were the abo- 
 rigines of North America sunk into such a state of extreme 
 depression? Because they had never known how to 
 unite. Why were the white inhabitants, though originally 
 so few in numbers how came they to possess the power
 
 APPENDIX. 167 
 
 they had obtained ? Simply by being in possession of the 
 secret of union. And so it was, as the Lord Bishop had 
 remarked on military matters, where a handful of men, 
 trained to act together and to rely for assistance upon 
 each other, would be able to disperse a multitude of 
 twenty times their number. These, then, were proofs that 
 isolated and individual labour never could be so largely 
 productive as united and associated labour ; and the 
 object of their meeting to-night was to put this experience 
 of theirs into a new form, and to apply it for the benefit of 
 the labouring population. One distinction between the 
 rich and the poor was, that the rich could and did unite ; 
 but the poor had not the means of doing so, and therefore 
 the rich must take pains to give them the means. (Cheers.) 
 In the ordinary exertions of life, the evils of individual 
 exertion were seen in the most glaring colours. In some 
 streets they would find as many as twenty shoemakers, 
 each of them striving to produce an article cheaper and 
 better than his neighbour, each paying separate rents and 
 taxes, with light, tools, &c. Now if these twenty shoe- 
 makers, instead of working singly and in competition, were 
 to unite together, carry on their employment under one 
 roof, with one light to serve all, and one set of tools to be 
 passed from hand to hand as they were needed, why they 
 would all make their fortunes, instead of each of them 
 striving, as they did now, to break down his neighbour, 
 and too frequently ending in ruin to them all. He ad- 
 mitted, indeed, that competition was a powerful stimulus ; 
 yet its disadvantages were great, and in his opinion com- 
 bination was the better principle of the two. In proof of 
 this he might quote many and striking instances. Refer- 
 ence had been made by the noble Lord who last addressed 
 the meeting to the reclamation of waste lands in England ; 
 and he lamented that the experiment had not produced
 
 168 APPENDIX. 
 
 the full effects which it was capable of doing, because the 
 poor people were to set to work separately and alone. An 
 impression had too much gone abroad that all the land in 
 England capable of cultivation was already cultivated; 
 and it was asserted that if these waste lands would produce 
 any thing, capital would long ere this have been found to 
 reclaim them. But there might be many things to prevent 
 the reclamation of waste lands besides want of capital ; 
 and he would mention a case (which happened, to be sure, 
 in the fifteenth century, but of which the facts were un- 
 doubted) where an absolute rock had been converted into 
 the most fertile territory in the known world. The island 
 of Malta was presented by the Emperor Charles V. to the 
 Knights of St. John of Jerusalem, on condition that they 
 should maintain perpetual war against the Turks. That 
 island, according to the unanimous testimony of the 
 authors who lived at that time, was as bare of soil as the 
 floor of the room; but the knights, who were associated 
 together as a species of military monks, sent vessels to 
 Sicily, whence they brought soil enough to form the first 
 layer; and then, by means of animal manure, decayed 
 vegetables, &c., they made it the most fertile soil in the 
 world, and able to sustain a larger population to the square 
 mile than China itself. But there was a more recent and 
 a happier example in their own country and their own 
 times, in the ease of the Irish Waste Lands Society. He 
 was a shareholder in it himself, to a small extent ; and 
 that excellent and patriotic nobleman, the Earl of Devon, 
 was at the head of it. That Society had been four years 
 in existence, and during that time it had taken into culti- 
 vation 18,000 acres of land, which was before entirely 
 unproductive. But by the application of associated labour, 
 by taking poor men who had not at the time a shilling in 
 the world, and employing them in conducting the expe-
 
 APPENDIX. 169 
 
 riment, they were able to give employment to 2000 people, 
 while on some portions of the land they realised a dividend 
 for their money of 7| per cent. (Cheers.) If he were to 
 talk for an hour, he could not mention a fact more con- 
 clusive than that. He might farther add, which he did 
 on the authority of the last published Report of the 
 Society, that several individuals who came to them four 
 years ago without a sixpence had now accumulated sums 
 varying from 10/. to 1501. (Hear, hear.) The resolution 
 spoke of the beneficial effects which these associated insti- 
 tutions had produced in America ; and he supposed that 
 was one reason why he had been selected to speak upon 
 it. His friend, Mr. Morgan, also knew that twenty years 
 ago he and himself (Mr. Buckingham) had concurred in 
 the practicability and feasibleness of Mr. Owen's plan. 
 He should mention that this was before the time that Mr. 
 Owen had gone so far as to reject the introduction of 
 religion into his community, and to broach those other 
 sentiments of his in which they certainly did not concur ; 
 though they were not thus to be terrified out of their 
 approbation of the associative principle, whether it was to 
 be worked out by people living in parallelograms or in 
 circles. They were favourable to that principle, though 
 they protested, both in public and in private, against the 
 omission of religious instruction and public worship, which 
 was attempted to be made a part of Mr. Owen's system. 
 With regard to America, a general impression had gone 
 abroad that the associated communities there had failed. 
 Now it was true that Mr. Owen's attempts had failed, and 
 they had failed from the same causes there which lay at 
 the root of their failure here. But the principle had been 
 acted on by other parties, without this objection, and their 
 plans had succeeded admirably. There were two classes 
 of them, and he had visited them both : the one was the 
 
 I
 
 170 APPENDIX. 
 
 community of the Shakers, the other of the Rappites. 
 With regard to the first, he might state that they 
 were associated together for mutual help and comfort. 
 They added to that, no doubt, many peculiarities ; but 
 they were extremely devout, and fully carried out their 
 principles in their practice. He had, as he said, been 
 among them, and he might add, that no farms in England 
 were in more beautiful order than those of the Shakers, 
 and that their produce was so excellent, whether of 
 agriculture or of manufactures, that it frequently brought 
 twenty-five per cent more than those of any other articles 
 of the same kind ; indeed it was enough to say that such 
 an article was a Shaker production for every one to have 
 confidence in its excellence. The Rappites were still 
 more remarkable. They were Lutherans in religion, the 
 same as the Lutherans in Germany. Mr. Rapp came 
 from Germany in 1798, and first settled at a place on the 
 river Wabash, which he called Harmony or New Har- 
 mony. He afterwards found the place to be unhealthy, 
 and disposed of it at a considerable sacrifice to Mr. Owen, 
 under whose management the whole affair became dis- 
 located, and it was ultimately given up. Mr. Rapp settled 
 on the Ohio, where he took 1000 acres of wild land, and 
 set his people to cut down the woods and to drain the 
 marshes. Continuing in this state for twelve or fifteen 
 years, at the end of that time he had constructed an ad- 
 mirable town, where every family might live apart or in 
 common, as they thought fit. The parties laboured at 
 those trades which they best understood. There were 
 handicraftsmen of all kinds, and they were all trained 
 to take part in harvest labour, so that when the pres- 
 sure of harvest work came on, instead of importing 
 labourers from other places, as the English did with the 
 Irish, they simply turned out their artisans, and they got
 
 APPENDIX. 171 
 
 in their crops in an incredibly short space of time. There 
 was a large store-house, from which each family was 
 supplied according as it needed ; and instead of this lead- 
 ing to waste, as some might suppose, the people exercised 
 economy as admirably as the crew of a ship did where, 
 though there was more water on board than would pro- 
 bably be needed, yet no one drank the more on that ac- 
 count. (Hear.) At the time he left them, their capital 
 exceeded 100,000 dollars, which was invested in the 
 banks of the country, as they were unable to cultivate 
 more land themselves, and they had no desire to invest it 
 in land for others to cultivate for them. They had abun- 
 dance ofleisure, as he thought none of them worked more 
 than from six to seven hours a-day. They commenced 
 work early in the morning, and they usually left off' by 
 two or three in the afternoon. There was no opportunity 
 for obtaining vicious indulgences even if individuals wished 
 it. He would give the meeting one instance of what the 
 power of their capital enabled them to do in establishing 
 a class of manufactures with which they were not ac- 
 quainted, but which they wished to introduce. They 
 had already the cotton and the woollen manufactures; 
 and they wished to introduce among them the silk ma- 
 nufacture, as the silk-worm abounds in America and 
 the mulberry-tree grows there. They- sent, therefore, 
 an agent to England, and commissioned him to go to 
 Spitalfields, to find out there the man who was most skilful 
 in his department, and to engage him at any wages he 
 might ask to come over to them, they further stipulating 
 to provide him, during his stay, with a home, food, and 
 clothing. Such a man, as the meeting would suppose, 
 was not difficult to be found; he was not at the time more 
 than thirty -one years of age, with a wife and family. He 
 (Mr. B.) visited this man, who told him that he had re-
 
 172 APPENDIX. 
 
 ceived at the rate of five guineas a-week from the com- 
 munity, and that as they provided himself and his fa- 
 mily with every article of food and clothing besides, he 
 had been able to lay by two hundred and fifty guineas a- 
 year as long as he chose to stay among them. (Cheers.) 
 He thought, therefore, that if the plan of associated labour 
 in community was tried in this country, under proper 
 conditions, there would be no fear of its success. If they 
 were to take a piece of waste land on Hounslow Heath or 
 Salisbury Plain, which they could have cheap, because it 
 was at present unproductive ; if they attached to it a 
 church and a school in addition to the other arrangements 
 of the associative principle, he was satisfied that the in- 
 habitants would be not only more comfortable, but also 
 that it would be favourable to them in a moral point of 
 view : for it was to be observed, that the mere fact of 
 living in such a community would make men more careful 
 of the good opinion of their neighbours than if they lived 
 in St. Giles's or Saffron Hill, where a man might commit 
 a crime in the morning, and get drunk over it at night, 
 without any one knowing any thing about it. It was a 
 fact that there was a strong connexion between architec- 
 ture and morals ; because if a man lived in a village or in 
 the open part of a large town, where all his movements were 
 seen and known, he would be a much better man than in a 
 crowded and crooked-lane neighbourhood ; and if a man 
 did wrong under such circumstances, no one would speak 
 to him ; he would find the place unsupportable, and would 
 be compelled to go away. If, in addition to that they 
 could reserve to such a community the blessings of edu- 
 cation and the enjoyment of religious privileges, he could 
 conceive no project more worthy of the approbation of a 
 religious public. (Cheers.)
 
 APPENDIX. 173 
 
 The REVEREND HUGH HUGHES, Rector of St. John's, 
 Clerkenwell, in seconding this resolution, remarked, 
 It would have afforded me great pleasure if some one 
 of greater ability had stood forward to second this reso- 
 lution ; however, in taking part in this business, it is 
 to me a great encouragement to have been preceded by 
 the Right Reverend Prelate who has addressed you so 
 eloquently, and who is known to think for himself upon 
 every subject without reference to any prevailing pre- 
 judice. (Applause.) I feel it also a great pleasure to 
 be surrounded by so many reverend brethren. I think 
 that the bishops and the clergy of this realm cannot 
 engage in a more solid cause, in a work more neces- 
 sary in itself and more likely to bring upon our people 
 and kingdom a deeper blessing than any attempt which 
 has hitherto been made to better the present miserable 
 and destitute state of the working-classes of our country. 
 (Applause.) I think their condition is so far beyond the 
 reach of any measure hitherto attempted for their amelio- 
 ration, that the ministers of the Gospel in this country 
 are not only called upon, but that they are bound by 
 the highest obligations to come forward and take an 
 active part in any plan that may hold out a prospect 
 for their relief and improvement. (Applause.) If there 
 be persons who profess to possess a more practical know- 
 ledge than ourselves, who would look with coldness upon 
 this society, and who have doubts about its feasibility, and 
 keep away from it as a bad plan, we must answer them 
 We know of no other plan that is likely to meet the exigen- 
 cies of society, and more, that we are ready to adopt any 
 other plan that can be proved to be more efficient for the 
 purpose in view. We find the condition of the labouring 
 classes of this country is deteriorating from year to year ; 
 therefore, I think we are bound to consider any scheme
 
 1 74 APPENDIX. 
 
 that proposes its amelioration. (Hear.) I think we are 
 bound to listen to any suggestions consistent with Christ- 
 ian principle, even though they may not have been tested 
 by experiment, that proposes to remove and prevent the 
 poverty and wretchedness which is annually increasing 
 over the nation, and threatening to issue in evils and cala- 
 mities too dreadful for contemplation. (Hear.) It is not 
 my intention to enter into the merits of the plan which we 
 have met this evening to support, nor to anticipate any 
 objections that may be made to it by scientific men. I 
 mean to make only one or two additional remarks, shewing 
 the necessity of adopting some plan for ameliorating 
 society in this country, other and more efficient than has 
 yet been attempted either by the ministers of State or the 
 ministers of Religion. (Applause.) 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen, it is only those who visit the 
 poor at their habitations, and enter familiarly into their 
 interests and concerns, that can have any adequate idea of 
 their poverty and wretchedness; their poverty is so ex- 
 treme and this is a lesson to induce ministers of the 
 Gospel to consider deeply the matter that it has the 
 effect of reducing some to a state of perfect heathenism. 
 If you build churches, and open them for the gratuitous 
 accommodation of all, some of the poor are unable to pro- 
 cure clothing to enable them to appear within the walls 
 with decency. (Hear.) If you build schools, and offer 
 gratuitous education to children, they are so destitute and 
 so deficient in cleanliness and apparel, that they are un- 
 able to conform to the most easy rules of regulation and 
 order. (Hear.) If you ask the poor to bring their child- 
 ren to the baptismal font, they are unable to afford the 
 simple fee required on the occasion, and multitudes of 
 children remain, upon that account, in a state of unbap- 
 tised heathenism. I believe that our excellent diocesan
 
 APPENDIX. 175 
 
 has recommended to his clergy generally that this fee 
 should be given up. (Applause.) Startling as it may 
 appear, I would add that multitudes of couples live 
 together in this metropolis as men and wives without the 
 sanction of matrimony, for no other reason than that they 
 are unable to pay the small fee required by the func- 
 tionary whose assistance is essential to the solemnisation 
 of that holy state. (Hear.) I would not make these 
 startling assertions in the presence of the ladies here, if 
 the truth had not been brought to my mind within the 
 home of my own personal labours ; and I have found it 
 necessary to give up the fees, and to induce my clerk and 
 sexton to do so, in connexion with baptism and marriage, 
 without which sacrifice I should be. compelled to see a 
 large portion of my parishioners living in a state of pa- 
 ganism and immorality disgraceful to a Christian country. 
 (Hear.) And I have deemed it expedient to join the 
 benevolent efforts of those individuals who have recently 
 established Ragged Schools in this metropolis. I have 
 established one in my own parish, without which measure 
 multitudes of my juvenile charges would remain, through 
 utter poverty, debarred from the initiatory rites of the 
 Church. (Hear.) 
 
 The point I want to bring before you is, that the po- 
 verty of the poor, keeping them from places of worship 
 and education, debarring both young and old from Christ- 
 ian rites and Christian privileges, constitutes a formidable 
 and almost insurmountable barrier to their mental and 
 spiritual improvement ; and that is a reason in itself, 
 independent of all others, why the Ministers of the Gospel 
 should most anxiously consider and most cheerfully co- 
 operate in any scheme that proposes to confer a greater 
 amount of temporal prosperity and comfort upon our poor 
 countrymen, (Applause) and would help to diffuse
 
 176 APPENDIX. 
 
 the superabundant and increasing wealth of the nation 
 more beneficially throughout the masses of the community 
 at large. (Hear.) 
 
 The fact already alluded to by the Right Reverend 
 Prelate, of there being so much of unrequited labour in 
 this country compared with the abundance and wealth 
 that fact is well calculated to bring to our solemn recol- 
 lection the denunciation of the faithful Prophet of old, 
 which we, as ministers of the Gospel, should do well to 
 impress upon the minds and consciences of our brethren, 
 I mean the denunciation in reference to master and 
 employer, " I will be a swift witness against those who 
 oppress the hireling in his wages." (Hear.) It is a 
 great question for the employers in this country to ask 
 themselves, whether they are just towards the poor they 
 employ, before they take credit to themselves for chari- 
 table dispositions. (Applause.) Do not mistake me ; I 
 love charity and the giving of alms. God forbid I should 
 say any thing in disparagement of benevolence ; it is the 
 characteristic of our heaven-descended religion ; but let 
 us take care that we are just and honest to all in all our 
 dealings while we profess to be charitable. (Applause.) 
 Let us take care that we as a nation do not oppress the 
 hireling in his wages while we pride ourselves on bene- 
 volent and charitable institutions. (Hear.) The very 
 necessity for these institutions would cease to exist if 
 men were remunerated for their labour as they ought 
 to be. Our most holy faith repudiates the spirit of ex- 
 clusive competition for wealth which marks the present 
 generation, and which would keep down the spirit of 
 co-operation which should exist as tending to produce 
 general comfort and mutual good-will. (Hear.) Raise 
 the social condition of the people, and they will imbibe 
 sentiments of prudence, and from their habits of in-
 
 APPENDIX. 177 
 
 dustry, will provide for the time of sickness and age, and 
 thus supersede the necessity of expending large sums 
 in gratuitous relief for destitution and wretchedness. 
 (Applause.) I look with great delight upon the efforts 
 of our Church and Nation in behalf of the inhabitants of 
 other lands and distant climes. I look back with thank- 
 fulness upon the issue of the struggle for emancipating 
 the slave, but remember there are thousands of our coun- 
 trymen enduring greater misery than ever fell to the lot 
 of a slave (hear, hear), and also contemplate with much 
 thankfulness (and who does not?) the progress of the 
 British Missionaries, who carry on their labours in the 
 east and the west, in the north and the south ; in the 
 Indian Peninsula, and the wilds of America ; in all 
 these quarters are they proclaiming the glad tidings of 
 salvation, in order that they may convert the nations of 
 paganism ; but would not the converted pagan be amazed 
 that among the countrymen of the instruments of his 
 evangelisation, there were thousands living in a state of 
 impiety as fearful, of ignorance as gross, as that in which 
 he was enthralled when he was unacquainted with the 
 truths of religion ? (Hear.) Well, then, let not a single 
 word be offered in this meeting in disparagement of noble 
 efforts made by the Church and nation to diffuse the 
 blessings and liberty of Christianity through a distant 
 land ; but I would say to them, look also at home (ap- 
 plause) ; look also to the ignorance, and destitution, and 
 misery of our own countrymen, and help to emancipate, 
 civilise, Christianise, and ameliorate the condition, and 
 prevent the ruin, of the inhabitants of the British isles. 
 (The Reverend Gentleman sat down amidst loud and 
 continued applauses.) 
 
 i 2
 
 178 APPENDIX. 
 
 The third resolution, viz. 
 
 " That a Society be formed, to be called the Church-of-Eugland 
 Self-Supporting Village Society, for promoting the religious, moral, 
 and general improvement of the working classes, by forming esta- 
 blishments for three or four hundred families, in which instruction 
 may be afforded, and religious ordinances administered on the princi- 
 ples of the Church of England, and combining agricultural with 
 manufacturing employment, for their own benefit ;" 
 
 was proposed by the Rev. EDMUND R. LARKEN, Rector 
 of Burton-by-Liucoln, and Domestic Chaplain to the 
 Right Hon. Lord MONSON; and seconded by the Rev. 
 J. E. KEANE. 
 
 The Rev. E. R. LARKEN said, It is without any im- 
 pertinent affectation of diffidence that on rising to address 
 the present assembly on a subject of such importance 
 as that which has called them together this evening, 
 I find myself embarrassed and perplexed. In the first 
 place, there are difficulties arising from my retired and 
 secluded position, my want of familiarity with crowded 
 assemblies, and the consciousness of inferiority when com- 
 pared with those present, whose powers, opportunities, 
 and experience, so far in every way surpass my own. 
 
 There are also difficulties, perhaps, more formidable 
 than these, though personal disqualifications are by no 
 means without their power to discourage, there are diffi- 
 culties connected with the subject itself. The fact that 
 to some whom I address the subject has been so long 
 familiar as to have become trite and threadbare, stripped 
 of every attraction but the certainty that it involves the 
 happiness of thousands that, on the other hand, to others 
 it is altogether unfamiliar, new, and strange, that they 
 require an instruction and enlightenment as to the nature 
 of Associative Doctrines that there is not now time or
 
 APPENDIX. 179 
 
 space to give that to many it is connected with notions of 
 materialism, subversive of the hope of immortality which 
 is the only light left to cheer us on our path-way through 
 this dark and now uncomfortable world, that crude and 
 strange notions upon marriage and other social relations 
 have been mixed up with the subject elsewhere, and still 
 cling to it in the opinions of many, creating a prejudice 
 against it which it is hard indeed to overcome ; all these 
 are difficulties against which nothing but a consciousness 
 of a good and holy cause could suffice to encourage and 
 sustain its advocate. (Hear, hear.) 
 
 And there are other prejudices to encounter and over- 
 come besides those engendered naturally on moral and 
 religious grounds; I mean, the prejudice which exists so 
 widely and has so much influence upon the economical 
 system of this nation, the prejudice in favour of compe- 
 tition. Men have grown into the habit of referring all our 
 social progress and national greatness thereto, without con- 
 sidering how much greater and how much further advanced 
 we might have been under an opposite system ; and have 
 become so lost in amazement at the colossal empire of 
 which they are citizens, as to deify, in the spirit of ancient 
 paganism, not only the empire itself, but the system 
 which has been conducive to its rearing. (Hear.) The 
 natural consequence of this exaggerated estimate has been 
 that when the attention of men has been drawn to the 
 hideous deformities and inequalities which disgrace our 
 social state, in spite of the boasted wealth and glory 
 which they worship, such inequalities have been desig- 
 nated by them as the natural and inevitable conditions, 
 not only of the progress, but of the existence itself, of so- 
 ciety. And those who have dared to speak of a state in 
 which universal and individual advancement would not be 
 incompatible, in which the interests of the few and the
 
 180 APPENDIX. 
 
 many would be identical, and in which national greatness 
 would not be purchased at the fearful cost of suffering 
 and degradation at which it is at present, have been stig- 
 matised as Utopian dreamers, who interfere most unwar- 
 rantably with a mass of prejudices, prepossessions, fixed 
 habits and arrangements of thought and action, precon- 
 ceived opinions and feelings, who make men uncomfort- 
 able, and put them out of conceit with their idol, and who 
 ought therefore to be silenced at any cost whatever. 
 (Hear, hear.) But, on the other hand, if the subject and 
 its advocacy have their difficulties, they have unquestion- 
 ably their encouragements. I cannot look upon the pre- 
 sence of so many good and kind-hearted persons but in the 
 light of an encouragement ; for I see in it an augury and a 
 promise that that vast quantum of benevolence that has 
 hitherto been generalised and diffused, so as to fail of doing 
 the good which would be commensurate with its amount 
 and the amount of exertion requisite to set it in motion, 
 may henceforth be brought to bear upon one point, and 
 that point the most important of all, the point wherein 
 lies the solution of our national and domestic difficulties 
 the establishment of a better system of social economy 
 than that which now prevails. (Hear, hear.) 
 
 Moreover, no slight encouragement arises from the 
 consciousness that the cause which we are met to forward 
 is identical with that of Christianity itself; that in its 
 furtherance is involved a return to the first principles of 
 our holy religion ; that religion whose Divine Author 
 tells us, it is more blessed to give than to receive ; to sell 
 all we have and communicate to the poor, if we would be 
 His disciples ; whose apostles and first disciples shewed 
 their appreciation of His precepts by having all things 
 common, by selling their possessions and goods, and part- 
 ing them among the believers according as every man
 
 APPENDIX. 181 
 
 had need ; whose early fathers enforced the doctrine of 
 community as a recognised principle of their religion, and 
 whose followers, from its outset to the present day, have 
 been most worthy of the name, in proportion to the way 
 in which they have approached, in spite of adverse cir- 
 cumstances and the inconsistent arrangements of society, 
 to conformity with the will of its Founder and the prac- 
 tice of His first disciples. (Hear, hear.) 
 
 But it will, perhaps, be expedient to confine our views 
 to the practical object which has called us together now. 
 In the effort which we are desirous to make there is no 
 wish to interfere with any preconceived opinions or esta- 
 blished notions whatever. We would strike at no in- 
 stitutions religious, social, or political, but leave them as 
 we find them, so far as they are sanctioned by the Gospel; 
 being only desirous to purify them, and to clear away 
 all obstacles which may now present their full intended 
 benefits upon society. We are encouraged by the evident 
 diminution of that extreme partiality and exclusive desire 
 for the competitive system which I noted just now, by 
 the disposition now manifesting itself to question whether 
 the maxim of Political Economy, to buy in the cheapest 
 and sell in the dearest market (though valuable enough in 
 its proper degree) is sufficient in itself to secure national 
 happiness and prosperity. We are encouraged by the 
 lessening disposition to stigmatise and ridicule as Utopian 
 our efforts as social reformers. We are encouraged by 
 the countenance of our distinguished Chairman and his 
 supporters, the attendance of those before me, and the 
 patience and kindness with which so many experienced 
 and philanthropic individuals have examined the very 
 plan which is now laid before us by its benevolent pro- 
 jector, Mr. Morgan. We are encouraged by the honest 
 consciousness, that there is nothing destructive, nor even,
 
 182 APPENDIX. 
 
 in the first instance, substitutory, in our wishes and in- 
 tentions. To carry this one isolated plan into effect is all 
 we now aim at. Its ultimate extension must be the con- 
 sequence alone of the success of our present experiment. 
 (Hear.) 
 
 This plan I may be permitted shortly to explain, and 
 before doing so, to pay a tribute to the disinterested 
 benevolence of my friend to whom we are indebted for it. 
 If to those who subserve, by the formation of railways, 
 primarily for their own advantage, if ultimately for that of 
 society, the interests and convenience of mankind, costly 
 testimonials of respect are tendered by their grateful ad- 
 mirers, how much more are such due to one who has the 
 interests and convenience of his fellow-men solely at heart, 
 and who labours night and day for the establishment of a 
 plan propounded for their sakes, and not for his own 
 advantage! (Hear, hear.) That testimonial we are, I 
 trust, ready to present. Our presence here is a proof of it, 
 and the way in which we can do so most acceptably to my 
 friend, is by lending our hearty and sincere endeavours to 
 carry out his benevolent designs. (Hear, hear.) The 
 plan is shortly as follows : 
 
 " It is proposed to form, in the centre of an adequate extent of 
 land (not less than one thousand acres) arrangements, ia connexion 
 with the Church of England, in which, under efficient direction, three 
 hundred families may be enabled, by the produce of their own labour, 
 not only to support themselves, but to defray the expenses of the 
 Establishment. In these expenses would be included the interest of 
 capital advanced. 
 
 " The chief employment of the congregated body would be 
 agriculture, combined, at the discretion of the Committee of Manage- 
 ment, with handicraft and mechanical pursuits. 
 
 " It is in contemplation to take the land required on a long lease, 
 for 30, 40, or 50 years, the more considerable portion of it uncultivated, 
 reserving the power of purchasing within 20 years, upon the rental 
 agreed on, at a sum not exceeding 25 years' purchase.
 
 APPENDIX. 183 
 
 The cost of the Institution may be estimated as follows, 
 
 300 Cottages, each containing 4 rooms, at 75 . 22,500 
 
 Furnishing Apartments for 300 Families . 3,600 
 
 Church 3,000 
 
 Houses for Clergyman and Director . . . 3,000 
 
 Lecture-room, Dining-hall, and Kitchen . . 2,000 
 Schools, Store-houses, Infirmary, with Dwellings for 
 
 School-Masters and Mistresses, Surgeon, &c. 4,000 
 
 Fitting-up School-rooms and Lecture-room . . 200 
 Secretary's Residence, Committee-room, and Lodging 
 
 for Strangers and Visiting Committee . . 2,000 
 
 Fitting-up Secretary's and Committee-room . 100 
 Farming Establishment, including Bailiff's House, 
 
 Stabling, &c 3,000 
 
 Workshops, Tools, Apparatus, &c. . . . 2,000 
 
 Fitting-up Infirmary ..... 200 
 
 Do. Kitchen 200 
 
 45,800 
 
 "To the said outlay of 45,8001. add for food and clothing for the 
 first year 14,200/., thus making the total capital required 60,000^., 
 which amount it is proposed to raise in Shares of 20/. each, and by 
 Loans and Donations." 
 
 So much for the expenses, now for the sources and 
 amount of returns, 
 
 " It appears from Mr. Rickman's Population Tables, that in 1200 
 persons, co-existing in the county of Surrey, there is an average of, 
 
 318 individuals, male and female, under 10 years of age 
 127 from 10 to 15 
 
 630 15 to 60 
 
 75 ,, ,, ,, 60 and upwards 
 
 1200 
 
 " In the following estimate of the value of labour of 1200 persons, 
 that of the children under 10 years is not taken into account ; the 
 labour of 8 of the second class, 19 of the third, and 5 of the fourth, 
 engaged in domestic purposes, being 32 ; and also 5 of the second, 20
 
 1 84 APPENDIX. 
 
 of the third, and 10 of the fourth, being 35, are supposed to be inef- 
 fective, through indisposition and other causes. 
 
 114 persons from 10 to 15 at 4s. per week ^1,185 12 
 
 641 15 to 60 10s. 16,666 
 
 60 60 and upwards 5s. 780 
 
 815 .18,631 12 
 
 From which must be deducted 
 
 Stipend for Clergyman .... 300 
 
 Salaries ...... 750 
 
 Interest on 60,0001. at 5 per cent . . 3000 
 
 Rent of Land 750 
 
 Food and Clothing for 300 families, or 1200 
 
 persons 9360 
 
 Taxes and Contingencies . . . 300 14,460 
 
 Leaving a balance of 4,171 12 
 
 " Each person, besides being engaged more or less in agriculture, 
 shall also be employed in that kind of work for which he is best 
 qualified. 
 
 "As these arrangements will afford, by means of classification, the 
 best opportunity of directing each species of talent or labour to its 
 most congenial occupation, a larger amount of productions would be 
 realised than under a system where peculiar talent or skill can rarely 
 find its appropriate sphere of action, and where, in the absence of a 
 wise economy of time and labour, the industry of many is so ill- 
 directed as to produce no real wealth, while thousands are totally 
 unemployed." 
 
 The estimated balance of somewhat more than 
 4000/. will be laid by from year to year towards the 
 formation of a fund for the ultimate repayment of the 
 sum advanced by capitalists for the erection of the first 
 establishment, on which being done it will become for ever 
 the property of the working members and their successors. 
 Such a fund would be afterwards available for the forma- 
 tion of similar institutions for their increasing members.
 
 APPENDIX. 185 
 
 I should observe, in addition hereto, that it is not indis- 
 pensably necessary for us to adhere servilely to the 
 prospectus which has been read; improvements can be 
 made by subsequent committees, and no doubt will be 
 effected in due time. 
 
 We shall justly and naturally be expected to prove the 
 necessity for such an undertaking. The necessity is at 
 once the fearful wretchedness and the consequent crime 
 prevailing in the face of so much and such unexampled 
 wealth and prosperity, which shews that the system must 
 be wrong which permits it, and that means must be 
 adopted without delay which may ultimately lead to the 
 change of that system, and immediately to the rescue of 
 some of its afflicted victims. 
 
 The London clergy, whom I rejoice to see around me, 
 will best bear witness to the fearful distress from time to 
 time prevailing among their people, and the afflicting un- 
 certainty of their condition at the best of times. Situated 
 as I am in a retired pastoral district, with a population 
 comparatively small to the extent of land to be tilled, I 
 am happily removed from such personal experience of 
 poverty and want, though even among us there are seasons 
 of pressure and of consequent suffering. But those who 
 are familiar with agricultural districts more densely 
 peopled, or less sedulously tilled, may speak of sorrows, 
 and trials, and privations, that horrify us by the recital. 
 The state of the peasantry in many of the southern, 
 eastern, and western counties, cannot be unknown to those 
 who have not forgotten the late debates in Parliament, 
 or the sterner debate by torch-light at Goatacre; while of 
 our manufacturing population, the experience of 1842, 
 in which, when pursuing my investigations at Leeds, I 
 met with sights and sounds of distress enough to freeze 
 the blood within my veins, had it not been kept warm
 
 186 APPENDIX. 
 
 and flowing by sympathy, the result of Dr. Cooke Taylor's 
 inquiries, and the reports of Parliamentary commissions, 
 shew to what a fearful extreme of poverty an unfavourable 
 train of circumstances may reduce them in a moment : to 
 say nothing of the mental and spiritual destitution among 
 them and their agricultural brethren, on which the philan- 
 thropic mind cannot dwell for an instant without expe- 
 riencing the most pregnant sorrow and the liveliest appre- 
 hensions. 
 
 These evils, and, which is the most important, perhaps, 
 the liability to a recurrence of these evils, experience tells 
 us cannot be cured by any of the means hitherto adopted 
 for the purpose. We must, therefore, have recourse to a 
 new and hitherto but partially tried remedy : that remedy 
 is Association upon Christian principles, wherein, each 
 labouring for all, the exertions of each will receive their 
 due and proper reward wherein the weak shall be aided 
 and supported by the strong, the infirm and those disabled 
 by time or the hand of Providence shall be the objects of 
 the tenderest solicitude on the part of the community 
 wherein work will be done cheerfully and well, because 
 done under favourable circumstances, under enlightened 
 Directors, aided and furthered by machinery, and with the 
 consciousness, on the workman's part, that in working for 
 the common good he is not indirectly or uncertainly, as 
 in the present state of things, but directly and manifestly, 
 advancing his own wherein the ministers of religion shall 
 be able to act like the good Shepherd whose subordinates 
 they are, to know their sheep and be known of them 
 wherein they will find their endeavours backed by the 
 influence of example consistent with the principles they 
 teach, and which are professed by the community; when in 
 well-appointed infant and training schools the young will 
 be reared to habits of piety, virtue, and usefulness, and,
 
 APPENDIX. 187 
 
 on leaving them, enter, not as now, a society abounding 
 with every inconsistency and temptation, but one in which 
 is practised what is taught, where Christian love, humi- 
 lity, kindness, and affection, are the guides of conduct, 
 general and individual wherein the Apostle's direction 
 is the rule, and obedience to it the secret of advancement, 
 " Bear ye one another's burdens, and thus fulfil the law 
 of Christ." 
 
 Nor let it be said that in such an institution as that 
 proposed, incentives would be wanting to individual exer- 
 tion. A corporate spirit would supply the place of selfish- 
 ness ; and a generous emulation, as to who should most 
 benefit the community, would lead to an increase of exer- 
 tion by each member that would far more than compen- 
 sate for the niggardly grudging spirit which is mutually 
 engendered now by necessity and exaction. We can con- 
 ceive, from the examples of material and spiritual success 
 respectively before us in the cases of the Rappites and 
 Shakers of America, alluded to by a previous speaker, 
 the Moravian settlements here and abroad, and the Ber- 
 nardine monks of Charnwood Forest how greatly the 
 moral and religious character is improved, how soon 
 the production exceeds the needs of the producer, how 
 soon the poorest soils can be covered with golden har- 
 vests, a garden made to bloom in the wilderness, and 
 plenty take the place of sterility. By all these consi- 
 derations we are encouraged to perseverance in recom- 
 mending the plan of Mr. Morgan to public adoption. 
 When we think of the identity of interests, political, 
 domestic, social, and economic, to be effected thereby 
 when we picture to our minds the future reconciliation 
 between rich and poor, the abandonment of contests on 
 religious and political questions, which will ensue when the 
 interests of all are identified, which can only be the case
 
 188 APPENDIX. 
 
 by adopting the principles of Christian Association, who 
 is there among us who would not feel proud and grateful 
 at being permitted by Divine Providence to assist in the 
 formation of such an establishment as this, which is one 
 of the means by which those principles may be brought to 
 bear upon society, and pour upon its troubled waters the 
 tranquillising oil, which nothing but the spirit of Chris- 
 tianity, rightly understood and consistently acted upon, 
 can bestow? (Hear, hear.) 
 
 Mr. Ross, an operative, then addressed the meeting, 
 and expressed his pleasure at the sentiments he had heard 
 from the previous speakers, and particularly that the clergy 
 had set an example in this movement, for the working- 
 classes had lately got an impression that the ministers of 
 religion had become inattentive or passive spectators of 
 their wrongs. He at one time thought that it was the pro- 
 vince of Parliament to devise a remedy for their grievanecs, 
 but he was now satisfied that the true remedy lay with 
 the people themselves. Objections had been made to the 
 system of co-operation, but these objections were all made to 
 points which formed no part of the principle. As a proof of 
 the practicability of co-operation, let them look at the shoe- 
 makers in Drury Lane who were co-operating together in 
 a shoe-shop. He could state farther, that in the manufac- 
 turing districts the working-men panted so much for the 
 possession of land, that they had subscribed 7000/. to obtain 
 it, though only for the purpose of growing potatoes and 
 cabbages. He also stated that the Mayor of Leeds had 
 built twenty cottages, with many conveniences to which 
 the ordinary dwellings of the work-people were strangers, 
 and offered them to the working men at a rent of 5/. 
 a-year ; and that they had offered to pay 8/., on condition 
 that after a certain time the cottages should be their own.
 
 APPENDIX. 189 
 
 These facts shewed that working men were disposed to 
 adopt the co-operative system ; and he knew of his know- 
 ledge that many of them were so disposed. He knew 
 men who hacTbeen in Mr. Owen's institution, and who, by 
 the failure of that scheme, had been obliged to return to 
 their former profession of engravers, where they were 
 now making 3/. a-week ; and they told him that they 
 would willingly give up their present high rate of wages 
 to get back to that state of quiet comfort which they 
 enjoyed in the institution. Certainly, if the workmen 
 making 30*. per week, whom he might call the aristocracy 
 of the working classes, would not assist their humbler 
 brethren, they had no right to revile the man with 30,000/. 
 a-year for not assisting them. (Cheers.) 
 
 Mr. MORGAN observed that his friend Mr. Larken 
 had gone so much into the details of the plan, that it was 
 scarcely necessary for him to do more than to allude to 
 the general principle, but it might be interesting to know 
 something of the origin of the present movement, and the 
 progress that had been made. Some four or five years 
 since the plan was brought forward in a pamphlet, which 
 having attracted the notice of the Rev. Thomas Dale, 
 Vicar of St. Bride's, a meeting took place at his Vestry- 
 room of some of the clergy, including the Rev. James 
 Hough, and of the laity, to consider the best means of 
 bringing the subject before the public. It was suggested 
 that if information could be obtained regarding the Mora- 
 vian settlements, as bearing some affinity to the plan pro- 
 posed, the success of those establishments might induce 
 greater attention to the subject. In the autumn of that 
 year, six or seven establishments on the Continent were 
 visited, and from four of the principal settlements, includ- 
 ing that of Herrnhut, written documents were obtained,
 
 190 APPENDIX. 
 
 approving the principle of our plan, and recommending an 
 experiment, though upon a smaller scale. At Dresden, 
 Baron Lindenau, prime minister of the King of Saxony, 
 also inspected the plan, and said he shoulduiake a point 
 of laying it before the Minister of the Interior. The 
 Baron der Recke, also, at Dusselthal, near Dusseldorf, 
 after devoting considerable time to the examination, said 
 that nothing would delight him more than to assist in 
 carrying the plan into execution if he had not his own 
 establishment to support. Mr. Morgan observed, that he 
 did not refer to these facts in expectation that the Meeting 
 would be influenced by the opinions of others, further than 
 by concluding that the plan was not so visionary as had 
 been supposed, and that it was deserving of investigation. 
 At our universities conflicting opinions were inculcated as 
 truth ; while Christianity taught the excellent precept of 
 loving one another, from the chair of Political Economy 
 proceeded doctrines subversive of all the kindly affections 
 that would bind society in harmony together, for " compe- 
 tition" was wholly incompatible with the "New Com- 
 mandment." The true theory of society would be 
 exemplified by a given number of families united in a 
 distinct community, and resolving to bring up their 
 children in the love of God with all their heart, and their 
 neighbours as themselves ; those of superior talents would 
 be recommended to study such subjects as would best 
 enable them to assist the afflicted. Were there any par- 
 tially blind or deformed, optics and anatomy would claim 
 peculiar attention from some, in the hope of assisting 
 their afflicted brothers, and the strong would be encou- 
 raged to assist the weak: hence the affections of all would 
 be materially strengthened. The blind restored to sight, 
 the crooked made straight, and the weak strengthened, 
 more would necessarily be produced of all that was be-
 
 APPENDIX. 191 
 
 neficial and conducive to the elevation of society. 
 Here the rudiments of moral philosophy are in strict 
 accordance with those of political economy, the only cri- 
 terion of truth, for no two sciences can contradict each 
 other. Mr. Morgan added, that it would be detaining 
 their excellent chairman and the meeting too long to enter 
 farther into details ; but he begged to acknowledge the 
 kind assistance he had derived from the Hon. William 
 Cowper, in not only presenting his petition to Parliament, 
 but in ordering it to be printed, which he knew had led to 
 much greater attention to the subject. He concluded, 
 therefore, by moving that the cordial thanks of the 
 Meeting be given to Mr. Cowper for the kindness and 
 ability with which he had presided over their pro- 
 ceedings. 
 
 The REV. J. H. SIMPSON, in seconding the motion, 
 observed, that he was particularly desirous of calling the 
 attention of the Meeting to the necessity of something 
 being done to improve the state and condition of the poor; 
 that a movement of some kind was not only important, but 
 absolutely necessary. He wished to impress this from the 
 certain fact that the population was rapidly increasing, and 
 the destitute portion in a still greater ratio; and that 
 something must be done to direct into a safe channel this 
 overwhelming tide, or it would, sooner or later, overturn 
 every barrier and rush in, carrying with it all that was 
 held sacred in Church and State. Owing to the late hour 
 of the evening he would not detain the company, but the 
 field for expatiating was very wide indeed the independent 
 spirit of the poor was all but annihilated, and he would 
 repeat that something must be done to resuscitate the 
 energy of the peasantry.
 
 192 APPENDIX. 
 
 The CHAIRMAN said it gave him great satisfaction to 
 be present at this meeting, and to co-operate and assist in 
 it. He was extremely glad to find that among the speakers 
 there was one to represent the working classes ; for it was 
 clear that, if the scheme was to succeed at all, it must be 
 by the co-operation of different classes. He hoped that 
 this day would be the beginning of a scheme which would 
 greatly benefit the working classes. (Cheers.) 
 
 The meeting then broke up. 
 
 ** Communications to be addressed to the Hon. Secre- 
 tary, at No. 32 Sackville Street, Piccadilly. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 GEORGE BARCLAY, CASTLE STREET, LEICESTER SQUARE.
 
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