The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-17 00:00:00

DEPARTURE OF ROBERT OWEN
FOR AMERICA.

Lest Sunday morning the Socialists of London
gave their leader, Mr. Robert Owen, a public break-
fast, in the hall of the Literary and Scientific Insti-
tution, Johti-street, Tottenham-court-road, in anti-
cipation of his approaching departure to the United
States of North America, on a visit to his family.
Upwards of 350 persons sat down to breakfast, and at
least 200 more, who could not be accommodated at
the tables, witnessed the proceedings from the gal-
leries. The following addresses were presented to
Mr. Owen, by different sections of his disciples :
ADDRESS TO MR. ROBERT OWEN FROM
BRANCH A 1 OF THE RATIONAL SOCIETY.
Revered and beloved Sir,—The President, council,
members, and candidates of Branch A 1 of the

Rational Society, take occasion, from the announce-
ment of your intended voyage to the United States,
to give public expression to the respect and affection
with which they regard you as an individual, and of
their devotion to those principles of which you have
been the un wearied and consistent propounder.
These principles preclude the ascription of merit
or demerit, praise or blame, to individuals, but it is
at the same time instinctive in humanity to love and
reverence goodness and greatness; hence these are
our feelings towards you. Your long life has been
an undeviating exhibition of the purest benevolence,
the most generous disinterestedness. Your faculties,
fortune, and time, have been entirely devoted to the
task of regenerating society, and thereby reforming
the human character, so that in thought, word, and
act, all might at all times be guided by the dictates
of reason, and manifest that comprehensive charity
which is the inevitable deduction from the first prin-
ciples of the rational system of society.
A change so great—so radical—in man and his in-
stitutions, based upon principles so demonstrable and
consistent, has never before been propounded to the
world. At the commencement of your labours you
stood alone—now your disciples are to be found in all
countries and climes—the impress of your mind is
li visible in every direction, and time, as it rolls on, will
only the more evidence the depth and extent of the
influence which you have exerted over this and com-
ing ages. Every improvement in our literature—
every attempt at improved social and educational in-
stitutions—every effort to apply the theories of mo-
dern. science to the multiplication of the material
means of happiness, -i4.14 ~aiding, directly or indi-
rectly, the great social revolution you have ori-
ginated. This is a great work to have accomplished
in one lifetime ; it is the best return you could possi-
bly have for your labours; and we may be permitted
to rejoice with you in the contemplation of past
efforts, in the exultation over hopes for the future.
We had hoped that, at .your advanced period of
life, you would tranquilly and usefully, as usual,
have passed the evening of your days among us, with-
out exposing. yourself to the risks of such a long
voyage and journey as that you are about to under-
take. You are, however, the property of no parti-
cular country or nation., . The friend of mankind,
your mission is to reconstruct society, and to so form
the human character everywhere,
" That man to man, the world o'er,
Shall brothers be."

It appears to you necessary, in the performance of
the duties of this mission, that you should visit Ame-
rica; we feel too deeply interested in its fulfilment,
to speak of regret at your decision. The individual
pleasure arising from having you among us must give
way to the general benefit.
We are, however, encouraged to hope that you will,
if life and health be spared, return to us next spring.;
and fervently shall we welcome you back to your
rightful position of Patriarch to our Society—gladly
renew that intercourse with you, which is to us so
invaluable.

In your absence we will do the best that our ex-
perience and means will permit, to promote the spread
and influence of the benign principles of which we are
the disciples ; and we cherish the hope, that ere many
months have elapsed, we shall meet again under even
more favourable circumstances than the present.
Your appearance among the Social Reformers of the
United States at this period will, we trust, be pro-
ductive of great benefit, and give an increased impe-
tus to the rapid and wide spread social movements
now going on in that Republic.
We trust, also, that during your absence, you will
have ample opportunities of.aconferring with those at
the head of its affairs, and of impressing them with
a sense of the momentous and important nature of your
views in the present excited and unsatisfactory state of
the world.
May that happiness which it has been the labour
of your life to bestow on others, continue to be richly
enjoyed by you wherever you may be; and may we
speedily again enjoy the pleasure of seeing you
among us.

ROBERT CLARKE, President.
ADDRESS TO MR. ROBERT OWEN FROM THE

UTILITARIAN ASSOCIATION.
Respected Sir,—Permit the members of the Utili-
tarian Association to join with their fellow members
of the Rational Society in expressing their hopes.
fears, and good wishes, concerning yourself and the
benevolent work you have in hand.
We feel we would be guilty of ingratitude towards
you, and unjust to our own feelings, were we to alloy%
the present opportunity, perhaps the last in our lives
of addressing you, to pass unheeded.
We regret that England is not prepared to test by
practice the truth of the principles and plans you have
so ably developed, and unceasingly taught, during a
long and useful life ; but hope that the country
you are going to may give the everlasting truths of
which you are the bearer a more attentive hearing,
and means more commensurate to the speedy and
successful reduction of them to practice than has been
given to them in the land you are leaving.
When we reflect upon the almost superhuman
efforts you have made to awaken this country to a
sense of the dangers of longer continuing the present
chaotic state of things on the one hand, and to an
appreciation of the beauty, truth, and consequent sim-
plicity, of the system of society of which you are the
founder on the other, we feel that England's best
friend is leaving her shores, and are strongly reminded
of the beautiful yet mournful words of Jesus, the re-
former, when he exclaimed—" Ohl Jerusalem.

Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered your
children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens
under her wings, and you would not."
While, for England's sake, we regret your de-
parture, yet have we reason to rejoice that the
country you are going to is the one we have chosen
for our future home ; and although we may never
meet, there will be some consolation in knowing that
we are co-labourers in the land that is destined to
lead the nations of the earth, by her example, to the
adoption of the rational System of society.
In conclusion, respected friend, we wish you a safe
and comfortable voyage across the Atlantic, and a
hearty welcome to the Republic, and hope, ere long,
to be able to invite you to our home in the West ;
but should we, by the unrelenting decree of nature,
be denied that pleasure, may you live as long as ex-
istence shall be pleasurable, and no longer, is the
sincere desire of the members of the Unitarian Asso-
ciation.—Signed on their behalf,
T. C. SMITH, Chairman.
ADDRESS TO ROBERT OWEN, ESQ., ON HIS
DEPARTURE TO AMERICA, FROM THE CON-
DUCTORS OF THE " MOVEMENT."
The persons whose names are appended to this ad-
dress, may be taken as representing a party, who,
though belonging to the Society of which you are
the acknowledged head, are considered somewhat in
the light of dissentients; for this reason, they have
sought this opportunity of assuring you that what-
ever may be their difference of opinion, there is no
difference in the affection they bear you.
In you they recognise the benevolent sculptor,
who, out of the mis-shapen block of society, had
hewn the beautiful and breathing statue of co-ope-
rative humanity. A moral Euclid, you have done
for society what that mathematician did for geometry
—collected the scattered wisdom of earth's sages, and
given to it order, system, and practical utility.
Other philosophers had pointed to what should be
done—it remained for Robert Owen to propose to
do it. For half a century humanity has known you
as its friend. In both hemispheres you have borne
witness against sectarian error, and in the retreats
of grandeur and the humble haunts of poverty,. you
have gone, like the herald of happiness,
Rainnd wealthgs
pointed
to the equality of mankind. By
your
rnslaved industry
has been taught its true office,
and
nature has been
the means of emancipation ;,human
made the popular study of the multitude, and thought,
both in the Old World and the New, has received a
lasting impetus.
On all these accounts we:naturally congratulate you,
because, in whatever adds to the independence of hu-
manity, perhaps, more than other men, we are deeply
interested.
As recipients of those great metaphysical truths,
which you have been instrumental in disseminating to
the world, we are your debtors. That it is our good
,fortune to seek the fabled blessings of religion only
in the practice of morality, and to anticipate the
guardianship of a providence in the triumphs of
science, were first owing to your instruction and ex-
ample. It is, therefore, not less our duty than our
pleasure to bear testimony to the advantages of
having lived within the sphere of your influence.
It would be to impugn the high philosophy both of
your writings and your life, were we to deem it ne-
cessary to excuse ourselves for having, on some par-
ticulars, dissented from yourself. Your usefulness
has emanated from independence of thought, and to
respect individuality of sentiment is the proud cha-
racteristic of Socialism. To have broken in the
blindness and bigotry of the age, and stimulated a na-
tion to practical and liberal thinking, will ever be
reckoned among your most honourable triumphs.
It is not necessary that we wish that your visit to
your family, to whom we desire our regards, may be
a happy one. Whatever pertains to the province of