The Sun.
London, England, 1824-02-27 00:00:00

MU- OWEN
TO THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT.

An extraordinary era in the progress of civili-
zation has arrived.

The last half century has produced materials sufficient to
effect the most beneficial change in the condition of human so-
ciety. And the period is at hand when these materials must
be so applied by some power, or some party, in this or in some
other country.

The subjects of your empire have been chiefly instrumental
in dicovering the means, by which aloe materials hare been so
abundantly produced and made known : and you now possess
resources which, whenever they shall be properly*rected, will
be found to be inexhaustible.

You are at this moment at the head of the civilized world I,
and all nations look to you for an example.

There is, however, another country which is following close
upon your steps; and if you do not immediately make a proper
use of the vantage ground which you at present possess, the
high and enviable situation which you have obtained will
belong to the New World; and the United States will, instead
of you, become the guide and, peaceful ameliorator of all
nations.

This comparison between two powers--either of which, thro'
a wise direction, may shortly give laws, not by force but by
wisdom, to every quarter of the world—is not made to excite
any jealousy between them, or' o arouse any of the degrading
feelings which ignorance alone can engender, either in indivi-
duals or in States ; it is made to rivet the attention of both par-
ties to a subject, calculated to call fOrth their highest energies,
and to unite them as one goyernifient and one people, in aiding
each other to forward the most important objects that human
beings have ever yet sought to accomplish.
No. I wish not to create feelings of division among any por-
tion of my fellow-creatures ; but, if possible, to remove that
ignorance which is alone the cause of opposition among indivi-
duals and nations.
It is for this purpose that I now address myself to you. I
know that you are in full possession of all the power requisite
to obtain and secure this object : and the reflecting part of so-
ciety perceive that the mental ignorance with which the world is
overwhelmed must be withdrawn, as a preliminary measure,
-before any substantial. permanent, and general improvement
can-be effected for our species.
Having this great end in view, I do not now addresi" you
merely as the directing power of the British empire, but as the
legitimate leading head of the civilized world:
And,as such, it is not my intention to consider that you will
be henceforth influenced by the. limited views of chase, sect, or
party ; or CVC., by those Of country, climate, or colour., .It be-
comes your duty as it is your interest, and as it will prove to
be your higbest happiness, to acknowledge openly, frankly, and
honestly, such principles, and to adopt such practices alone as
will promote the public good. .
On these grounds, it is my duty to speak to you the la9,guags
of truth only. You ar© well aware that I have no intention
whatever to hurt the feelings of any Member of the Govern-
ment, either in Church or-State, or of any parties connected
with it; and that I am guided solely by the desire to relieve my
fellow-creatures from the miseries with which they hare been
so long afflicted. • •

I now state-to you—That You, at this motnent, possess a
sufficient supply of material to enable you, without injury to
any parties, to adopt effective-Measures, which shall relieve the
poor and working classes from poverty, or the fear of poierty.
That you possess the most abundant nesins of relieving all
classes from ignorance, and of making them usefully and ra-
tionally intelligent.
That you possess ample means
to improve to a very great
extent,
-the dispositions, habits, morals, and general conduct o
All the present poor and working classes,
f
And that it entirely depends upon your own measures whe-
ther vice, crime, and misery, shall continue to abound, as at
present; or whether these evils shall be gradually reduced,
until they shall be scarcely known in any part of your. widely
extended dominions.
And first, " That you prir possess a sufficient supply of ma-
terials to enable you, without injury to any parties, to adiopt
effective measures, which shall relieve the poor and working
classes from poverty, or the fear of poverty."
We know that riches are created solely by the induitry of
the working classes, and that the more- efficiently that in-
dustry is directed, the greater is the amount of wealth pro-
We know, too, that the effects of the industry of the working
classes may be increased beyond any
assignable limit by the
aid of mechanical, chemical, and other scientific inventions and
discoveries.

Prior to the introduction of these improvements, the manual
labour of one man, in many situations, could barely supply
common necessaries for himself and five or six others. But
such inventions and discoveries have been made within the last
half century in the most useful of the sciences, that one man
more easily provide the neces-
sariesthan lie could for five or six only,
can,fifty by
coy
aflrilsii sfaetzlfaooi.rl daily
fifty
oour, rs,
sixty, than
These scientific improvements, however, have been applied
at random, without foresight and without any general bene-
ficial arrangement or direction. They have been generally
applied to create a useless and hurtful superfluity of wealth
for a very few,
while the great mass of the people hare been de-
prived of the common necessaries of life, and grievously injur-
ed by them.
These scientific inventions and discoveries have been also
greatly limited in number and extent, by reason of the facul-
ties capable of producing them being allowed to remain uncul-
tivated, except in a few instances ; and, in consequence, even in
Great Britain, scientific improvements may still be considered
to be only in their infancy ; but limited as they yet are, their
amount is more than is requisite, under proper direction, to
saturate the British Empire with wealth beyond the possible
use or want of its subjects.

It has been estimated, that 6Dyears ago, the actual producing
power of Great Britain and Ireland did not exceed the unas-
sisted manual labour of fifteen millions of men : it is now es-
tinutted to exceed the unassisted manual labour of four hun-
dred millions of men. Its increase, in both islands, proceeds at
an average equal to the manual labour of at least six or seven
millions of men • annually ; and it is most evident to those
who are versed in the subject, dist it is capable of being made
to increase in a continually increasing ratio, and far beyond
the possible wants of society, whenever society shall be pro-
perly arranged.
The first important defect of the present system, is, then,
that neither the manual nor scientific power, applicable to the
creation of wealth, can be beneficially brought into action : in
consequence, pecuniary distress, abject poverty, and the fear
of want, are unnecessarily allowed to Afflict society, while the
British Government is in possession of the most ample means
to give full and beneficial employment to all its manual and
scientific productive powers, 'so long as poverty or the fear of
want shall be experienced by one single individual.
It was stated, in the second place, " That the British Govern-
ment possesses the most abundant means of relieving all classes
from ignorance, and of making them -usefully and rationally

It is —evident to every one, that as man is born ignorant, he
can be made intelligent by instruction only ; and that instruc-
tion cannot be given, unless arrangements are devised and exe-
cuted for that purpose.
These arrangements have not been formed. Partial and im-
perfect plans to give to a small portion of the people a limited
education in a few of the more useful acquirements, are all
that now exist even in the British empire and in America.
Nothing has yet been done to relieve the mass of society
from the lowest state of degradation, by instructing men to
know themselves ; and without this knowledge, the mere ac-
quisition of science is of little comparative value, except for
pecuniary purposes.
The facts which the pait history of our species presents are
now abundantly sufficient to enable you to devise arrangements,
by which, with ease and economy, every one of your subjects
may be taught to become usefully and rationally intelligent.

" The annual increase of productive power in Great Britain
and Ireland, is thus more than 'equal to the total amount of
manual labotir at present employed there, if we stippote that
labour is unassisted by machinery.