The Sun.
London, England, 1821-07-05 00:00:00

FOP, rillE SUN.

NATIONAL PROSPERITY.—[No. lII.]
MR. EDITOR.--In my last letter, I gave you
a slight outline of the arrangements by means of
which Mr. OWEN proposes to provide for he
Parochial Poor. If there be not some radical
error in his calculations, nothing can be more
evident than-that this degraded, and alarmingly
numerous portion of the community would, in
the course.of the very first year (barring unfore-
seen accidents, such as fire, and unpropitious
seasons,) be in a condition to repay a part of the
capital which had been invested in the Establish-
ment designed for their maintenance and employ-
ment. I have the utmost confidence in the accu-
racy of Mr. OWEN'S estimates, because he is in-
timately conversant -with '4ll.3'the . matters to
which those estimates have reference ; and be-
cause they have already been published long
enough to have enabled any well-informed person
,to detect the fallacies of the data on which they
rest, if any such had existed. And as no at-
tempt of this nature has been made, although the
disposition is not wanting to throw ridicule upon
Mr. OWEN, and to bring his scheme into discre-
dit, it is fair to-conclude that he is at least rusti-
fied in all that lie has asserted as to its financial.
advantages.
If, however, it can he proved that he has un-
derated the expellees of the first Establishment,
my faith in the soundness of his principles, and
in the ultimate attainment of the grand objects.
at which-he aims, would nevertheless remain un-
shaken. If with all the waste of human energy
which is now apparent on every side, and not-
withstanding the desultory and clumsy mode in•
which most of the operations of society are con-
ducted, so much wealth is created, so many com-
forts are enjoyed, and so large a proportion of its
members can be maintained in idleness, what
would be the result of arrangements calculated
to bring all our dormant faculties into action, and,
to give the best possible direction to our exer-
tions ? Rather, what is there of excellence in
any department of Art or Science that could long
elude the grasp of men thus united in its pursuit?
and those men Britons !

Are we for ever to look exclusively, to the
operations of military bodies, in order to ascer-
tain what can be effected by well combined ef-
forts ? Are these efforts never to be witnessed
upon a grand. scale except where the work of de-
struction is to be accomplished ? Mistake me
not, Sir,—l am not about to 'disparage the ex-
ploits of our heroical defenders. I hold them in
high admiration, and feel. a pride in having con-
tributed several sons to the naval and mili-
tary services of my country. I glory in the
prowess of its arms, to which I firmly be-'
lieve. England is indebted for the preserva-
tion of its liberties,- and Europe for its .eman-
cipation from tyranny. Yet however highly
we may respect the brave men who have fought
and won our battles, and however enthusiastically
we may cherish the remembrance of their gallant
achievements, it has ever been allowed to philo-
sophers to regard war as an evil of the first mag-
nitude, and to mix their sighs as men with their
exaltations as citizens..

I have put the question—Are we never to try
what will be the cordial effectsof extensive combi-
nation, and co-operation in building up the fabric of
society ? I shall be told that I have only to open
my eyes in this great Metropolis, and its imme-
diate vicinity, in order to perceive in our various
institutions and public works, striking proofs that
the very principles in question have been succes-
fully applied to the most beneficial purposes.—
My attention will be directed to the Palacious
Edifices in the eastern and western suburbs of
the capital, where our disabled sailors and sol--
diers repose in tranquillity and comfort from -the
toils of war ; to the numerous other asylums of
the sick, the destitute, and the distressed ; and
perhaps, above all, to the institutions devoted to
the instruction of the children of the poor. If
these evidences of the fruits of: co-operation in
our domestic economy should not suffice, I shall
then be conducted to .the great Councils of the
land, where the wisest and most experienced
Members of the State frame regulations which by
alternately checking the encroachments of the
stronger and encouraging the efforts of the
weaker classes, harmonize the multifarious
interests of all, and entitle the Government
of this Country to be ranked higher in
moral estimation than any that ever bore the
name of Commonwealth. I shall, moreover,
be told, that riches; (the road to • which is
open to all) ensure to the possessor the most ef-
fectual means of combining the exertions of his
fellow-subjects, and that the general weal is best
promoted by leaving it to the sagacity of indivi-
duals to discover the most advantageous means
of employing their capital.
All thiS is undoubtedly good, and worthy of
commendation ; and, as far as it goes, serves to
prove that whatever is estimable in civil society
owes its existence to unity of design and com-
bination of effort, guided and directed by wis-
dom and skill. Just in proportion as these re-
quisites have been obtained, and have been wisely
and beneficially directed, just so high, but no
higher, can any State be said to have risen in the
scale of- civifiiation. And so long as there are
any operations essential. to the Comfort. of asso-
ciated man. to which.the principles of union and
combination have not been at all applied, or have
been applied imperfectly and unskilfully, so long
will there be room for imiiroveMent. But it is
needless to argue a point .which few or'any will
be inClified to dispute. The times in which we
live are prolific in Associations for more effec-
tually and rapidly compassing objects of bene-

volence, of instruction, or of recreation ; the
same social principle has also, alas! beets but too
extensively applied to purposes subversive of the
peace and happiness of the State. Is it not, then,
most evident that the increase of knowledge,
and of moral and physical science, is constantly
tending to condense those floating atoms which,
in the intellectual (as in the natural) world, ap-
pear as mists and vapours to the eye of the phi-
losopher ; that these atoms, as civilization ad-
vances, gradually cohere, and are assuming regu-
lar and beautiful forms, thus indicating, that
eventually every individual of which society is
composed will be so amalgamated, as to give
strength and consistency to the whole mass. Un-
less, then, it be the decree or Providence, that this
tendency shall be for ever counteracted by the prin-
ciple of disorganization, and, indeed, unless that
principle be the most powerful of the two, a
period must arrive, when, like a well propor-
tioned edifice, all the parts of which society is
composed shall be fitly joined together, and con-
stitute a firm and elegant structure. Ido not
see how, according to any rational view of the
laws of nature: this'conclusion can be denied.
If wisdom excels ignorance ; if virtue predomi-
nates over vice ; if man has the power of produc-
ing more than his wants require ; or, to say all in
a word, if the desire of 'happiness shall continue
to govern his actions, the great end of his being
will one day be attained. The fact that the most
polished nations have retrograded to barbarism,
and that the stream of civilization has changed
its course, painful as it may be to a benevolent
mind, does not, I humbly conceive, warrant the
indulgence of despondent feelings. He who can
comprehend a view of the general causes which
have been hitherto operating the various changes
which have taken place in the world, will con-
sole himself with the well founded belief that the
progress of civilization has not been essentially
impeded by the fall of the most celebrated States
of antiquity. If the stream has at any time ap-
peared to recede, it has subsequently rolled on in
a more majestic course ; and if in later times it
has not risen quite so high as at some former
period, it is because its fertilizing waters have
been more widely diffused. We cannot perhaps I
produce any minds whose stature can rival a few
great names which have been handed down to
us : but these were- the more conspicuous from
the comparative littleness of their contemporaries.
It is now the poco pice that gives distinction in
every department of human excellence. If we
have no giants, it is because the general standard
has been gradually rising. The portion of know-
ledge which, a few centuries ago, attracted admi-
ration, is now the common inheritance of the
multitude. Can it, Sir, for a moment be doubted
that if the aggregate amount of intellect now ex-
isting in the world could be summed up, and
compared with its amount when the nations
bowed to the sceptre of Greece or Rome, the
balance would preponderate in favour of the pre-
sent inhabitants of the globe ? Most assuredly
the human race have " measured time by im-
provement."

Let us not then, Sir, listen to those heart-
chilling doctrines, which leave too long served_ to
repress the ardour of our hopes for the eventual
emancipation of mankind from the evils of po-
verty, of ignorance, and of crime. Displaced
they may be : and if we address ourselves
seriously to the task, displaced they will be by
the prevalence of wealth, of knowledge,, and of
virtue. On every side are to be seen the strongest
indications of some portentous change. The
seeds of knowledge have been sown, new facul-
ties have been awakened, and they must and will
be exerted. As well may we expect to confine
the steam while the fire is burning beneath the
cauldron, as to repress the energies that are now
straining to burst the bonds which scarcely hold
society together, under any of its existing forms :
and to extinguish the fire that has been kindled,
will be as impracticable as to pluck the SUN
from the firmament. What, under these circum-
stances, is the dictate of wisdom, but that we
should guide and direct a power which we can-
not destroy ?
We know from sad experience how much mis-
chief it is capable of effecting : and although, in
some parts of Europe, it appears as if the convul-
sion was over, I venture to predict that, unless
a vent be afforded for the escape of these re-
pressed energies, they will carry away all op-
posing barriers.
The Constitution of our own country has hi-
therto grown with the growth, and strengthened
with the strength of the British people ; and it
happily possesses an elasticity which will easily
adapt itself to the form and pressure of the age.
I need scarcely repeat, that I do not look to any
change of a political nature as a remedy for our
ills, nor do I conceive that the projected arrange-
ments which I have ventured to recommend
to the consideration of the polite society
in which your paper circulates, will in the
slightest degree disturb or displace any thing
which is deemed valuable by them. In truth, it
is not for vulgar minds, or depraved tastes, to
apprehend the excellency of a scheme which I
verily believe will, ere long, be acknowledged to
be at once the most beautiful and practicable
that ever was devised by a human tieing. What
constitutes its chief"recommendation in my eyes
is, that its operation is to commence with that
class of persons who are now a dead weight upon
society, (I allude to the inmates of our Poor-
houses,) and that it is not necessary to proceed
one step farther with the plan, than it may be
found to answer its purpose. If, indeed, it shall
(as its projector asserts, and as I firmly believe it
will) transform the pauper into a useful and re-
spectable member of the community, and convert

an impediment into an auxiliary, then, indeed,
the process which shall have effected so great a
benefit, wili doubtless be applied to a variety of
other cases, where the malady being less .aggra.
vated, the cure will be more speedy. One great
beauty of the plan is, that it is susceptible of an
infinite variety- of modifications, by means of
which even the most elevated ranks of Society
might easily multiply the sources of their enjoy-
ments, while the middling classes might command
those advantages which at present exclusively
belong to the possessors of extraordinary wealth.
But I have already trespassed too long upon
the patience of your Readers, and must therefore
reserve for a future essay the observations which
have yet to offer upon the nature of the }Aim to
which I point.—l am, Sir, your obedient servant,
June 7, 1821. INDEX.