The Press.
London, England, 1858-11-20 00:00:00

THE PRESS, NOVEMBER 20, 1858.

London-bridge, the first ready-money establishment in London ; and he
has left us a lively account of his duties, which were made more onerous
by the customs of the period. All the assistants had to wait to have their
hair powdered and curled before appearing in the shop ; and giwEN himself
bad two large curls on each side, and a stiff pigtail, which had to be nicely
and systematically arranged before he could show himself to the cus-
tomers. His removal to Manchester—an important epoch in his life—
took place when he was about eighteen. He was apprenticed to a Mr.
SATTERSFIELD, and, after about two years spent with him, set up for him-
self on a capital of 1001., borrowed from his brother, in partnership with a
clever mechanic of the name of JONES. This connection being speedily
dissolved, he became manager of a Mr. DRINKWATER'S mill at a salary of
3001. a year. He was now a member of the Manchester Literary and
Philosophical Society, and during this period made the acquaintance of
COLERIDGE, recording with some satisfaction that he was sometimes consi-
dered to have got the better of that great man in conversation. In 1795
he became partner in another company who had extended their busi-
ness to Glasgow, which led to ROBERT OWEN'S first visit to Scotland. On
this occasion he made acquaintance with the family of Mr. DALE, pro-
prietor of the " New Lanark Mills," prettily situated near the falls of the
Clyde, and which he then said seemed better fitted for the trial of a great
experiment he was contemplating than any spot he had met with. This
intimacy ultimately ended in OWEN'S firm becoming the purchasers of the
New Lanark Mills, and OWEN himself the husband of Mr.
BALE'S daughter. He was married on the 30th of September,
1797. In the year 1800 he permanently took up his abode
in Scotland, and became manager, or, as he terms it, "Governor," of the
"New Lanark Mills." In 1813, with the aid of certain gentlemen in
London whom be had won over to his own views, including JEREMY
BENTHAM and Mr., afterwards Alderman, Glnns, OWEN became the
purchaser of these mills, and immediately proceeded to carry out his
own ideas. Space will not permit of our giving any outline of his
management ; but it does not seem to have differed in the first instance
from what all our leading philanthropists at the present day would
approve. Schools and playgrounds for the children, and the
judicious exercise of moral influence over their elders, were the
instruments he relied upon for regulating his little community, and
for some years he undoubtedly had the sympathies of the public with
him. It was during this period that he was in partnership with
ROBERT FruroN the engineer ; and that numberless eminent men,
including the Emperor NICHOLAS of Russia, and various members
of our own Royal Family, were visitors at the now celebrated new
Lanark establishment. This great success and popularity seems to have
affected Mr. OWEN'S judgment, and to have led him to brood more and
more upon those religious doubts which an active and laborious life had
hitherto contributed to suppress. It was in 1817 that he resolved upon
the step which he flattered himself would in an instant open the eyes of
mankind and inaugurate a new epoch. This was to publicly proclaim the
falsehood of Christianity at a great metropolitan public meeting. So much
excitement was produced by the announcement of this meeting, that,
according to OwEN, the Government became alarmed, and he resolved to
have an interview with Lord LIVERPOOL to relieve his mind upon the sub-
ject ; believing at the time that his Lordship, with a great portion of the
Cabinet, was a convert to his own views ! His Lordship received him
with great politeness, and gave him permission to make any use of his
name and his colleagues' that he chose, short of implicating the Govern-
ment. OWEN'S friends, however, were all alarmed at the consequences of
the step he had taken, and Lord BROUGHAM, who met him soon after,
said—" How the devil, Owen, could you think of saying what you did at
" your meeting? Had any fus said half as much in the House of Corn-
" mons we should have been burned alive." The unfavourable impression
thus created was strengthened by the publications which just about this
time OWEN was issuing from the press. His memorial presented to the
allied Sovereigns at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1818, and his scheme for the im-
proval of the working classes, were considered to remove him from within
the pale of practical men, and to stamp him as a useless, if not a dangerous,
enthusiast. The latter-mentioned essay, which was severely handled even
by the Edinburgh Review, was published in 1819, and proposed that the
country should be divided into compartments of 1,000 or 1,200 acres each ;
a village to be erected on each of them in the form ofa parallelogram, with
the requisite inclosurcis and buildings for agricultural purposes; in each
village were to be a thousand inhabitants, who were to cultivate the soil
and work up its produce on the principle of combined labour and expendi-
ture, and were from the period of infancy to be placed in preparatory schools.
This afterwards developed into the theory now better known as Socialism,
according to which the thousand acres were to be the absolute property of the
thousand inhabitants, who should form a community to be governed by " the
Simple and the Beautiful." For the last thirty years Owenism has fallen
into disrepute, though the founder of it has been treated with distinction
both in foreign countries and in America, where his son, the Neapolitan
Ambassador, possesses a considerable estate. This gentleman, in common
with his deceased father, is to be reckoned among the warmest disciples of
spirit-rapping, a faith which Mr. OWEN adopted when Christianity began
to seem improbable. His latter days have been spent at his residence in
Kent, in the enjoyment of a good fortune, and the society of attached
friends. His recent appearance at Liverpool, and the events immediately
subsequent, are thus recorded by the Times :
" The last public appearance of Mr. OWEN was at the late Social Science
Congress at Liverpool. He stood between Lord BROUGHAM and Lord
'IOIIN RUSSELL. He spoke for a few minutes, when, his strength failing
him, he was removed to the Victoria Hotel, where he remained for several
days. He was accompanied by Mr. RIGBY, who has acted as his secretary
and man of business for the last thirty years. While at the hotel he
expressed a determination to see his native town, and started next day,
ring from Shrewsbury, as there was no rail. He only remained a few
ours, returned to Liverpool, and after transacting some business went
back again to Newtown. He told Mr. Molly on the way, I ,hall leave

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my bones where I got them.' He died at the Bear's Head Hotel, and,
what is strange, there is not a single inhabitant now alive in the place who
was there when he left it, a child of ten years of age."
ROBERT OWEN is one of those men whose names have been doomed to
an unmerited share of obloquy. Ile was, in truth, almost the founder of
that school of philanthropists to whom the working men of the present
day are so much indebted. He saw and deeply lamented the vice and
degradation into which that class was sunk, and he set. resolutely to work
to do what in him lay as an individual to give effect to his convictions.
No greatness or virtue which cannot abide this test is worth the ink in
which it is celebrated. ROBERT OWEN did act, and made great sacrifices for
the sake of his principles. Like many other pioneers, he did not see the
whole truth. Like many other well-intentioned Reformers, his intellect
was ruled by his imagination, and he was unable to bear the burden of his
own fame. But there was no malignity in OWEN'S irreligion, and no selfish-
ness or other petty feelings in his radicalism. He was a true friend to
the poor ; and let all their other friends utter a requiescat over his grave.

We are happy to see from what took place before the Lord Mayor on
Saturday last that the scheme for providing the London poor with
suburban dwelling-houses has not been abandoned. Two years ago, in a
paper which appeared in our literary columns, we strongly urged upon
the public the propriety of some such expedient. Not only is the number
of houses every year erected for the rich out of all proportion to those
erected for the poor, but almost every other new house of the former
kind entails the removal of one of the latter kind ; while at the same time
the increase of streets and squares occupied by respectable inhabitants
increases the demand for labour in the vicinity. So that a process is going
on by which at one and the same time the necessity for the poor man's
services is augmented, and the poor man himself thrust away to a greater
distance. From this it arises that the poor are all huddled together in
particular quarters of the town, and that the crowding of lodging-houses,
with all its concomitant evils, is greatly on the increase. To remedy this
evil as far as possible, it has been proposed to supply the poorer classes
with cottages a mile or so from town, and to enable them to pass to and
fro by a system of cheap railway travelling. Could this system be effect-
ively carried out; it would be one of the greatest boons conferred upon the
London poor since philanthropy came into fashion. We wish the pro-
moters of it all success. Nor, although there are doubtless obstacles to be
encountered, can we perceive any of sufficient magnitude to thwart that
resolute spirit of benevolence which has already overcome so many diffi-
culties in the path of social improvement.

It won't do for the Duke of MALAKOFF to accept the command of the
French troops in Rome. The Duke has just begun fox-hunting, and the
Pope has just put an end to it. What may be the object of his Holiness in
putting the veto of infallibility upon this Anglo-Saxon entertainment we
cannot pretend to conjecture. Whether on the Wellerian principle, that a
dog who is a good judge of a fox is a good judge of anything, and that his
red stockinged counsellors would be in danger when other game became
scarce in the Campagna, we cannot say. We have heard of a priest being
hunted by a celebrated character in Leicestershire : possibly the fame of
his exploits may have spread to the Eternal City, and have been the cause
of the precautionary measure we allude to.

The omnibus rivalry case is adjourned to the 21st of December. Of
course, it does not become us to offer any opinion on the legal bearings of
this question, or to impute either to the General Omnibus Company or
their servants the offence with which they are charged. But, if common
sense may be allowed to speak in the matter, there can be no doubt
that a serious offence has been committed by somebody. The simple fact,
which seems to have been amply proved, that passengers were forcibly
prevented from entering the Saloon Company's vehicles, is surely sufficient
evidence. The long-suffering "NABBY," so-called, we suppose. from his
alacrity in picking up passengers, and the "gentleman named PINCHER,"
are certainly, we think, in a position to prove the fact of unlawful inter-
ference and obstruction on somebody's part. TABBY, whose professional
abilities rendered him a formidable rival, was, it appears, "nursed " with
special tenderness ; and we can readily imagine the consternation of that
class of stout and elderly passengers, with whom Punch has familiarized us,
at the tumults of which they have suddenly found themselves the centre.
Not that we mean to imply that the lady and gentleman alluded to in last
Thursday's evidence were either stout or elderly. Far from it. But as we
know from sad experience that it is for persons so afflicted that omnibuses
seem to have been expressly invented, it is but right that practices espe-
cially painful to them should be stopped at once. Who that remembers
Mr. Pickwick's memorable passage from his carriage to the hustings at
Eatanswill cannot picture to himself his description of this very obtrusive
system of " touting"? At present the cabmen seem to be the only gainers
by the practice—stepping in, like a neutral power, when the combatants
are exhausted, and quietly appropriating the prize for which they had been
struggling. We trust, however, that before the 21st of December the
nursing fathers of this monopoly may be brought to a sense of the true
laws of political economy ; and that NABBY, PLNCHER, and last and
least, the Public, may be relieved from the annoyances to which
ignorance of commercial principles has subjected them, and that the
lbrmer may be permitted to pursue in peace the avocations for which they
are so eminently qualified. If they will not accept Sing Log, in the shape
of Sir RICHARD MAYNE, they will find a veritable King Stork in the
House of Commons.