OR, UNFETTERED THINKER AND PLAIN SPEAKER FOR TRUTH, FREEDOM, AND PROGRESS. "AND though all the winds of doctrine were let loose to play upon the earth, so Truth be in the field, we do injuriously to misdoubt her strength. Let her and Falsehood grapple! Who ever knew Truth put to the worse, in a free and open encounter?"-Milton's Areopagitica. A SHORT time before the opening of the present session of parliament, the Times, in its wisdom, thought fit to offer sundry suggestions to the 'brave peers of England' with respect to the manner of conducting their business in the House, alluding at the same time to the very little business they had to transact, and inferentially hinting that, unless they bustled about a bit more, made a show of doing something beyond ratifying the decrees of the Commons, by originating Bills, and displaying increased energy in legislative affairs, they would become a dead letter in the State. Now it does not appear that the 'Hereditaries' have benefited by this advice. Nothing of the least public interest has passed in that gilded chamber of aristocracy for many a day. The Peers meet two or three times a week, keep up a silly chatter about Protection and Corn Laws, and the welfare of the Church and Crown for half an hour or so, and then 'adjourn.' All the real work is done in the House of Commons. As for the Peers, their days of importance are over; they may talk big, and plume their fine feathers and shake their golden crests within those painted walls at Westminster, but for all the good they effect for the people, they might as well be sipping their claret at home. Speaking of the money which has been lavished upon the decorations of the building, wherein these titled Fifthwheels occasionally assemble, the Daily News gave the following significant piece of information concerning the refectory part of the establishment: "Any one who may chance to know anything of the 'peers' dining-room,' will know that nothing can be more absurd than the idea of spending a large sum of money in decorating that apartment. The room itself is little better than a narrow corridor. It looks out upon a small court-yard, and is one of the darkest apartments in the new building. But more than this-the room is scarcely ever used. As the peers rarely sit after 7 or 8 o'clock, it is not six times in a session that one of them ever require to dine at Westminster. For the past two months, it is said, that not a chop has been served in the peers' dining room. So little is it frequented, that whilst every other apartment connected with the house rejoices in a mass of gilded mediæval furniture, this apartment has been scantily supplied with common club tables, which have been found to answer all its purposes." So that were M. Soyer to be appointed cook to the House of Peers, he would evidently enjoy a sinecure; and this is a kind of comment on that Scripture which saith 'if ye work not, neither shall ye eat.' "For the past two months not a chop has been served in the peers' dining-room!" ergo, for the past two months the peers have not worked hard enough to give themselves an appetite. Poor chop-fallen aristocrats, their official hours have dwindled to the shortest span; the encroachments of Democracy have almost driven them out of employ, and the best thing they can do is to elect the Duke of Buckingham as leader and start off to the back-woods of America and set up on their own account. The People of England could contrive to get through life very comfortably without them, and might feel better pleased to have their room than their company. Let them pack up their rattle-traps and take wing, for they must leave the land behind them, which would not fall a prey to thorns and thistles for want of their tender care. We can cultivate corn without the superintendance of coroneted heads, and our laws would be as well framed and as well administered if the new House of Peers were converted into a Lecture Hall, or any other institution more adapted to the genius of the age. Give us a thorough representation of the people, and peerages and privileged legislators are only blocks in the path of progress. The time is coming when we shall hear as little of peers' debates as we do now of their dinners. F. G. REFLECTIONS SUGGESTED BY THE 79th ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH-DAY OF ROBERT OWEN, MAY 14th, 1850. THERE is perhaps no man living who has exercised a more potent and bene ficent influence over public opinion,-laying wide and deep the foundations of the great social edifice of the future,-preparing the minds of men for that entire and organic change in the character and constitution of society, which all who think now recognize as certain and inevitable, whose history is more deeply interesting and profoundly instructive, or who has led a better, a worthier and a more useful life,-than the venerable philanthropist who has just entered his 79th year. We have suggested the name of Robert Owen, not for the purpose of entering, at the present time, upon any enquiry concerning those principles and plans to which his life has been devoted, or the correctness of his metaphysical speculations; but that we may direct attention to those qualities of character for which he is distinguished, and which are deserving of universal study and imitation. To that active and intelligent philanthropy which has led him to sacrifice ease and quiet, a respectable position in society, (according to the world's notion of respectability,) a large fortune, and the common objects of ambition which these presented to him, and to devote the whole of his time, talent, and whatever else he possessed, not merely with the object of removing existing distress and suffering, but in diffusing a knowledge of the causes which have led to their production, and the measures by which they could be most effectually removed ;—to that genuine heroism and moral courage which enabled him to brave obloquy and prejudice, and the loss of popularity, at a time when his popularity was at the highest,-by boldly and fearlessly proclaiming what he regarded as fundamental and vital truths, but which were in antagonism with established systems and institutions;-to that consistency of character, that indomitable energy, perseverance, and continuity of purpose, which have contributed so largely to the success of his exertions, and without which, success in any great object cannot reasonably be expected;-and, above all, to that universal and all-embracing charity, which he has not only on all occasions preached, but uniformly practised. He has been slandered, calumniated, and caricatured. His principles have been misrepresented; his character has been maligned. Bigots have dealt out their "Anathema Maranatha" against him: preachers from the pulpit have denounced him as "an apostle of Satan, and a hoary headed infidel;" but, calm and dignified, he has pursued "the even tenor of his way," mildly, but earnestly, reiterating his principles,-trusting to win conviction by the power of evidence and the force of truth, and freely forgiving those who had sought to injure him,-feeling assured that they had acted thus because "they knew not what they did." Let those who may have been accustomed to sneer at Robert Owen, or who have heard him spoken of as 'visionary and impracticable,' make themselves acquainted with the facts of his life, what measures he has advocated, and the amount of practical good already effected by his exertions. He was the founder of the first and most efficient institution ever established in this country for the purpose of infant training. He was the first who publicly advocated and prepared a Bill for limiting the hours of labour for children in mills and factories. He was the author of the plan of self-supporting Home Colonies, submitted by him to Mr. Falk, the Dutch Ambassador, who introduced it into Holland, where it has now been in successful operation for many years; and which, if established in this country, would speedily lead to the extinction of pauperism and poor-rates. Education and employment,-equal rights and liberty of conscience, the development of all man's faculties and the supply of all man's rational wants: these have been the great objects of his unceasing exertions, and to which his life has been consecrated. His theory of the power of education and surrounding circumstances in the formation of character were submitted by him to the test of practical experiment, during a quarter of a century, among a population of nearly 3,000 people; and the wonderful success of that experiment has been attested by evidence of the most incontrovertible character. I lately had the pleasure of attending a large public meeting, at which Robert Owen was present, to congratulate him on the approaching anniversary of his natal day; and, to me, more deeply impressive, more truly eloquent, than all the orating and the perorating, was it to see the glorious Philanthropist his face brightening, and his eyes glistening, while descanting upon his favourite theme, with all the zeal and ardour of youthful enthusiasm his faith as firm, his hopes as high, his charity as unbounded as ever. As I gazed and listened, how small and insignificant, compared with him, appeared the titled great ones of the world; and I thought how much true and earnest men might yet do for their ignorant and suffering brethren, and how much wealth, and time, and talent-God's noblest gifts -were trifled with and frittered away upon frivolous and unworthy objects. Verily, this is a serious matter. Happy are they who can answer it to the satisfaction of their own consciences. I felt it was a proud thing for Robert Owen to say (albeit it was said with all meekness and modesty, consistently with his principles, and disclaiming all individual merit); but I also felt conscious of this truthfulness, when he asserted that there was not a man living, whatever might be his wealth or station, with whom he would willingly exchange places. And as the good old man descended from the platform, I recalled the language of the poet : "His life Was pure and gentle; and the elements THOMAS SHOrter. THE VALUE OF LEISURE. TRITE but true is the saying noscitur a sociis—a man is known by the company he keeps; or, in other words, show me a man's associates, and I'll tell you what sort of character he is.' Equally true would it be to say, 'show me how a man usually occupies his leisure hours, the hours not devoted to his daily-bread work, his profession or handicraft, and I'll give you a pretty correct estimate of the value and quality of that person's mind. As a feather will point out which way the wind blows, so will these hours of idleness in a man's life serve as an index for us to judge whether his nature has more of an intellectual, or more of an animal tendency. They will show us whether he is a man of thought, conscious that there is within him a principle of spiritual growth which needs cultivation, and is capable of elevating him above the inert mass of humanity; or whether his soul is " of the earth earthy," loving only sensual pleasures, and never happy but in pursuit of them; and they will mark the lazy, apathetic, lounge-about, kill-time character, who seems to take no manner of interest in anything beyond his own selfish existence, and to whom the affairs of the world are all rattle and jargon 'signifying nothing.' Of those three classes of people for which each of the above stands as a type, viz-the thinker, the sensualist, and the dummy, the two last are by far the largest in all ranks of society. The thinkers are a select few. They are, as it were, a vein of rich gold running throughout the moral world; others are but of the common clay upon which we tread every day. The thinker passes his moments of leisure-his moments when the labours of necessity are over-in such occupations as combine instruction with amusement; in some study which by improving his own mind will enable him to improve the minds of his neighbours; he reads not merely printed books, but the great volume of nature; he reflects on the history of mankind, and strives to trace the future in the present; he sympathises with the sorrowful, mourns over the wrongs and follies that triumph in the dress of religion and charity, and racks his brain for a plan to crush oppression and alleviate misery. The thinker never finds time hang heavy on his hands. He regrets its flight, not its duration; and he seeks to make the most of each short minute,-knowing that, if idleness be the Devil's opportunity,' the spare moments of life may be turned to the best account for the purposes of goodness and truth. With the poet Cowper he exclaims : Me therefore, studious of laborious ease, When He shall call his debtors to account From whom are all our blessings-business finds, At least neglect not, or leave unemploy'd The mind he gave me; driving it, though slack That has a heart, and keeps it; has a mind That hungers and supplies it; and who seeks A social, not a dissipated life Has business; feels himself enjoined to achieve No unimportant, though a silent task. Thus will the intellectual man despise the frivolities and degrading gratifications to which the vulgar sensualist and gaping dummy resort when let loose from the harness of labour. The day's work finished, where shall we look for these worse than useless creatures? Not where intelligence and refinement meet to enjoy the feast of reason and the flow of soul'; but in tavern tap-rooms, gloating over ribald jests, and obscene songs, in 'coal-holes,' 'cider-cellars,' billiard-rooms, dancing-booths, among dog-fighters, cockfighters, prize-fighters, jockies, and such like brainless boobies whose highest conversation is of wagers lost and won, steeple-chases, and broken heads-or mayhap if the dummy-headed idler have a turn for quiet gambling, we shall find him seated at a table engaged with other kindred spirits in the mysteries of cribbage or whist, or some kind of entertainment furnished by those symbols of groveling idiotcy--cards. Groveling idiotcy? Yes, nor is the term too harsh or inappropriate, for of all the devices for murdering a leisure hour ever contrived by human cunning, cards are truly the most abominable. They require neither wit nor wisdom to learn. Any donkey with but half an idea, and that a silly half, may become a profound card-player if he pleases -why, they were invented to while away the tedious hours of an idiotic French King, who, though he could not attend to affairs of state, could shuffle and deal a few pieces of spotted and pictured paste-board with right royal skill. We hope no Democrat ever condescends to soil his fingers with touching such iniquities. There are only three descriptions of people to whom we would allow the luxury of card-playing, and these are monarchs, imbecile old men and women, and fools. The first have a prescriptive right to the fun, the second can do nothing better, and the third will not. No man with any enlarged sense of his own self-respect will often be found at a card-table. To contemplate the vast portion of time that some persons take from their life to bestow it on pursuits calculated to demoralise themselves, and consequently to demoralise society, must make every heart that yearns for the elevation and progress of man very, very melancholy and downcast. When we know what might be done by application to intellectual employments, by careful culture of our nobler faculties; when we know how many evils of life might be mitigated, if not altogether abolished, by attention to mental and moral advancement, it is lamentable to reflect on the recklessness with which thousands, day after day, throw away valuable moments in the gratification of silly and sordid fancies--moments never to be recalled. We can perceive signs of awakening serious thought among the people; but there are many obstinate follies to fight against yet. Intemperance and gambling are two of the worst vices of this country,-though compared with the past century we are considerably improved in these particulars. For ignorance there is small excuse, now our press is tolerably free, and books are abundant and cheap. May the coming age be an improvement on the present! May the rising generation outstrip their progenitors in virtue, in wisdom, and in happiness! FRANK GRANT, 66 Lectures, in London, for the ensuing Week. SUNDAY, June 16, at half-past 7, Hall of Science, (near Finsbury Square,) City Road. Carlyle's Chartism and Latter-Day Pamphlets"-Samuel M. Kydd. MONDAY, June 17, at half-past 8, Mechanics' Institute, Gould Square, Crutched Friars. "Industrial Exhibition of 1851"-S. Sidney. At half-past 8, Finsbury Hall, 66, Bunhill Row. "Life and Poetry of Burns"-J. M. Wade. At half-past 8, Pentonville Athenæum, 23, Henry Street. "Political Retrospect of the last Thirty Years" --John Savage. At half-past 8, Sobo Mutual Instruction Society. "Pleasures of Scientific Research and sensual Gratification, Contrasted"-J. Benny. TUESDAY, June 18, at 8, British Coffee Rooms, Edgeware Road.-Weekly Meeting of the Free Enquirers' Society. |