The Sun.
London, England, 1819-04-15 00:00:00

An ADDRESS to the WORKING CLASSES

Them.,ly intelligent in Europe and America.,
be .their "ence when publiely called ripen, now
t trit h Ot those priuciples which I heye
edvocati d as preirninary to the introduction of
a new s\ eit.en for the goverumeot of mankind.—
tl.thelto, no individual, either in this cooetry
rir abroad, who possesses any knowledge (if the
heory Hi, pr ar:t ice of eorerning men, or of lot m-
in 4 their.ch,r.,!cter, has totempied to prove error
in any one of ► he pi incipl,s developed in the " new
view of ,rociei V." Ou close examination, tio.y
:rue all troind to' be nature's laws, and therefore
on2,sailable.
71et all men have from infancy been forced to
think and act as it other notions were true; and,
ns they have never seen :my part of mankied
placed under tirenmstances in which they could
act On li,ose principles hich they are now
obliged to admit are true in theory, they very
naturally, from past experience, conclude, that,
although the principles of the " new system"
are capable of the most evident demonstration,
they cannot be applied to practice. All this,
however, means no more than that they who come
to this conclusion are incompetent to reduce cor-
rect principles into beneficial practice : and the
persons who thus hastily decide without having
sufheient data on which to form any accurate
iiidgment, •woold have made the same landed
'assertion respecting any of the great improve-
rite nts in scieece, prior to their introduction.—
Such individuals forget that i: is a modern ioven-
tion to enable one man, with the aid of a ldtle
steam, to perfor'm the labour of 1000 men. ‘Vhat
wolin these unbelievers in huutau improvemeot
►
say if the truths of the Copernican system were
now, lot the first time, to 'be introduced to their
notice ? But we will leave theta to brood over
their melancholy fancied wisdom, until facts shall
overcome their disbelief ; for the time is at hand
when they Nvill behold with astonishment the
simplicity anti beautiful order of those movements,
the eombroittion of which they now deem to be
impossible. Yet before this change, so much to
be desired by you and by every other cliss, from
the 'tidiest to the lowest, can be perniitted to
take place, one formidable obstacle must be re-
mot/I'd.
From infancy, you, like others, have been made'
to despise and to hate those who differ from you
in manners, language, and sentiments. You 'rave
been filled with all uncharitableness, and, in con-
sequence, cherish feelings of anger-tdwards your
fellow-men who have been placed in opposition to
your interest. Those feelings of anger most be
withdrawn before any being; who has your real
interest at heart, can place power in your bands.-
You must be made to know yourselves, by which
means alone you can discover what other men
are. You will then distinctly perceive, that no
rational ground for auger exists, even against
these. who, by the errors of the present system,
have Irken made your greatest oppressors and your
most bitter entmies. An endless multiplicity of
circumet ancet, over which you had not the smallest
controul, placed you where you are, and as you
ate.. In the same manner others of your fellow-
men have been lot toed by circumstances, equally

uncontroulable by them, to become your enemies
and grievous oppressors. In strict justice they
are no more to he blamed for these results than
you are, nor you than they; and splendid as their
exterior may be, this state of matters often causes
them to suffer even more poignantly than you.
They have therefore an interest, strong as your's,
in the change which is about to .commence for
the equal benefit of all, provided you do not
create a more formidable counteracting interest
on their parts ; of which the result must be, to
prolong time existing misery of both classes, and
to retard the public good.
The existing order of things has placed some
of your fellow-men in situations of power and emo-
lument, and in the possession of privileges on
which they have been taught to - set a value.—
While you shew by your conduct any desire vio-
lently to disposses them of this !tower, these emo•
lunments and privileges, is it not evident that they
must continue to regard you with jealous and hos-
tile feelings ?. That the contention between the
rich and the poor will never have an end, and
that whatever relative changes may take place
amongst you, there will-ever be the same oppres-
sion of the weak by the party who has attained to
power. Before your condition can be ameliorat-
ed, this irrational and useless contest must cease,
and measures must he adopted in which both par-
ties may have a substantial interest. Then' will
anger aged opposition subside, anti those arrange-
ments which now appear impracticable to the in-
experienced be carried most easily into practice.
And these changes are 'at hand ; for a clisis- has
strived new in the history of mankind. The ex-
perience of ages has now developed truths which
demonstrate, " that all men have been forced by
she Circumstances which have surrounded them
from birth, to become mere irrational • and lo-
calized animals, and who, inconsequence, have
been compelled to think and eel on data directly
opposed to facts, and; of course, to pursue mea-
snres destructive alike of their own happiness and
of the happiness of human nature." I am well
aware of the feelings which the developetnefit of
this truth will at first excite in those who are now
deemed rich, learned, and powerful, and in all
tho,e who have been taught to imagine that they
possess some knowledge. This troth, however, is
not thus -declared to inflict unnecessary pain on a
siogie human being. On the contrary, it is held
up to the light of the world, solely to shew man-
kind the first step of knowledge -which can lead
them to rationality, and out of the ignorance and
tv,iiery in which they have hitherto existed. The,
pain which the development of this all-important
tint'h must create will be transient, and pass away
without real injury to any one ; -while the sub-
stantial benefits which it will pKoduce
perpetttally- experienced by the whole of human
!wore .through all succeeding generations. It is
front a thorough -kn,owedge of this' troth, and of
the infinite benefici.l consequences which will re-
sult to mankind font its being universally known,.
!hat I nowlyring it before your minds, not as an
t,b.-trit et theory to amuse speculative men, but to
itlVw you the source of all the errors which efflict
society, and which must be removed lodate your

condition can he ameliorated. There is no know-
led;:e except this which can make human nature
truly benevolent and kind to the whole of the
species, and. wi.h the certainty of a mathemati-
cal demonstration, render all men charitable, in
the mo,t enlarged and best sense of the term. It
will force on the human mind the conviction that
to blame and to be angry with our fellow-mentor
the evils which exist, is the very essence of fol ly
and irrationality, and that\ notions whicb can give
rise to such feelings never could enter into the
companion of any human being that had been
once made rational.

Are .you then prepared to hok upon all your
fellow-creatures in power, and out of power, rich
and poor, learned and unlearned, good and bad; as
beings formed solely by the circumstances of their
birth, and who have been made as they are, what-
ever they may he, front causes which exclude the
poisihnity of the smallest controul on their parts,
in the formation of those fAcidries and qualities
they ni,iy happen to possess ? If you cannot see
d co mpr ehend this truth, then is the time,not
yet come for your deliverance' from the depths of
mental datkness and physical misery. But I trust
the light is not now too strong for you to receive
without injury ; for I have been gradtially pre-
paring- you for years for its reception ; and it the
experience which I have been permitted to acquire
of human nature does not very much deceive me,
it is not now a premature disclosure. It you then
can bear to be told that human beings, possess-
lug • the most attractive fotm, and the highestin-
tellectual attainments, which die world has ye
secs, can justly claim no other appellation than
that of localized animals, peculiar to some of the
innumerahle districts Into which irrationality
has drvided the world, and if your minds can now
comprehend the principles which place this truth
among those which are capable of the easiest de-
moustration, then is the time of your deliverance
from mental slavery come, and the period is
proaching when you may acquire some title to be
concidered as rational creatures.

If you are in this adaneed mental state, so
much to be desired for your happiness, then you
will at once cease to blame others for the evils
which you sutler ; anger, revenge, and hatred,
almost to the very recollection of then:, will be
withdrawn Iron: your feelings ; you will not loner
dissipate all your energies in attempting to find
the cause of your miseries among any of your
fellow-men, and thus destroy your minds and tl►ap-
piness by erecting unceasing useless irritation.
No. In all respects your. conduct will become
the vet y reverse of this. - You will regard all your
fellow-men without distinction, as beings who
are soon to become your friends, and active co-
operators in the attainment of the substantial
happiness to which human nature is evidently de-
stined. You will say to those who are now in
possession of riches, houours, ptewer, and privi-
leges, which they have been [-aught to value,
" retain these in perfect security, as long as you
can hold them in estimation ; our whole conduct
and proceedings shall he a pledge to you that we
will never attempt to dispossess you of any part of
them ; nay, while you can derive pleasure
from -additional wealth, we will add to that
which you now' possess. The cause of con-
test between us will henceforth cease. We
have discovered its irrationality and titter use-
lessness. We will not, except to acquire expe-
rience from it, recur to the past, in which all
have been compelled to act an irrational part ;
but we will earnestly apply ourselves to the fu-
! ture ; aod having discovered the light of true
knowledge, we will henceforward walk by it."
All this you may with confidence say to the
higher classes, whose supposed privileges you
will soon cease to envy. For, without entering
into contest with them ; without infringing •u
any of the imaginary privileges which prior cir-
cutustauces have,placed in the:r hands, a new view
of your interests shall be speedily.opened to you,
by ►which, without interfering with the rights of
army class, without exciting any feeling of oppo-
sition to your proceedings, you shall be enabled
to relieve yourselves and your descendants from
poverty, from ignorance, and from the innumer-
able causes of misery to which you have hi-
therto been victims. When you shall thtis be
enabled to understand your real interests, you will
have no desire for any of the fancied advantages
now possessed by the higher classes. Had those
who are of this order in the civilized world been
permitted to discover what human nature really is,
they would have distinctly known long, ago, that
by being raised, as it is termed, to time privileged
ranks, they are placed under circumstances which
render their successors, except by some extraor-
dinary chance, increasingly useless to themselves
and to• society. They are taught from infancy to
set an inordinate value on themselves,, because
they possess what are miscalled privileges, the
only real effect of which is to surround them by
circumstances wt:ich must inevitably make them
more helpless and dependent than other men.—
They are trained from the cradle (and therefore'
cell for our pity, not blame) to take pride to
themselves for pestling me►msures which deprive
the great mass of nranl.iud of the most essentiel
benefits that belong to human nature, ,in order
that they, a most insignificant part in point of
numbers, may be distinguished by advantages
over their fellows. The feelings which this ab-
surd conduct generates throughout society, keep
the whole population of the world in a lower de-
gree of enjoyment and rationality than most of
the animal creation. They are the very essence
of ignorant selfishne... .You will now soon pass
this error. You will discover that there is no
compariso') between the result of such conduct
and the p.elasure to be derived from the most
active exertions to give to all your fellow-creatures
the same privileges and benefits which you your-
'selves possess, and, by this means, so far increase
the'aggt egate of human enjoyment, that ti►e least
gifted member of society will experience a larger
share of continued and permanent happiness than
has hitherto fallen to the lot of time most fortu-
nate. The motives -which lead to the former
conduct are altogether irrational, and will not
bear ►he glance of an enlightened mind ; while
those which -will compel you to adopt the latter
are in unison with every sound principle and just
feeling, and defy•time most rigid scrutiny to detect
in them any error. Let me, however, guard you
against a mistake - which exists t 9 a great extent

among the unprivileged orders. The privileged
classes of the present day, throughout Europe,
are not, as this mistake supposes, influenced so
much by a desire to keep you down as by an
anxiety to retain the means of securing to them-
selves a comfortable. and respectable enjoyment of
life. Let them distinctly perceive that the ame-
liorations which you are about to experience are
not intended-or calculated to inflict any real in.,
jury on them or their posterity, but on the con-
trary, that the same Measures which will improve
you, must, as they assuredly will, essentially be-
nefit theat,, and raise them in the scale of happi,
ness and intellectual enjoyment, and you will
speedily have tbeir co-operation to carry the con-
templated-arrangements into effect. it must be
satisfactory to you to learn, that 1 have had the
most evident proofs from many individuals high
in these classes, that they have now a real desire
to improve your condition ; but, from the un-
fortunate situation in which.they have been placed
by birth, *they cannot, of themselves,. devise
measures by which you can be benefited, and -their
own circumstances improved. Such changes must-
poceed from pfactical men.
Wkat has been said is sufficient for your minds
to digesl-at; time. When you are prepared
to receive moist, it shall be given to you.
Heed not whit men, with fanciful theories and
without practicalknowledo, may say to you. Many
of them, 1 have no\doubt, mean well. But, be as-
sured, that whatevo tends to irritation and vio-
lence, proceeds tr 4 the most gross ignorance of
human nature, and' evinces an utter inexperience
in those practical Measures by which alone so-
ciety can be relieyled from the evils which it has
so long suffered: My fixed intention has long
been to devflOne truths, which it is of the ut-
most importance to the. well being of mankind to
make publicly known at this period; and I have
been gradually preparing the public, mind to re-
ceive them. IVhere great darkness has ever ex-
isted, a sodden admission of strong light would
destroy the infant powers of vision. Thlesi the
most salutary truths, when they arc opposed to
centuries of prejudice, are introduced- with due
care to those whose miatls have wandered in a
labyrinth of error from their birth, the tender
germ of rationality would likewise perish, and
ignorance and misery must continue to prevail
over knowledge and happiness. As you become
acquainted with these truths, one after the other,
your long injured minds will acquire strength,
and your rat tonal powers gt adually expand, until
that knowledge of human nature, which now ap-
pears so incomprehensible to you, will discover
itself to be-as simple-MS—a-0y of the other facts
which surround you, and with which you are
now the most familiar.

Wha,t I have now stated, is intended to prepare
the public mind for the following conclusions :-
Ist. That the rich and the poor, the governors
and the governed, have really but one interest.
2d. That the notions and arrangements, which
at present prevail throughout society, are neces-
sarily destructive of the happiness of all ranks.- .
3d. That a correct knowledge of human nature
will destroy all animosity and anger among men,
and prepare the way for new arrangements which
wilt be introduced without violence, and without
injury to any party, and which will effectually re-
move the cause from which all the errors and
evils of society now proceed.
4th. That the higher classes in general, no longer
wish to degrade you, but in any change that may
be proposed for your benefit, they demand only
that advantages' should be secured to them, at
least equal to those which they now possess,
and this feeling.is quite natural, it would be yours
if you were in their-situation.
sth. That you now possess all the means which
are necessary to relieve yourselves and your de-
scendants, to the latest period, from the sufferings
Which you have hitherto experienced, except the
knowledge how to direct those means.
6th. That this knowledge is withheld from
you only until the violence of your irritation
against your fellow-men shall cease ; that is, until
you thoroughly understand, and are influenced in
all your conduct by the principle, " That it is the
circumstances of birth, with subsequent surround-
ing circumstances, all formed for the individual,
(and over which society has now a complete con-
tronl) that have hitherto made the past genera-
tions of mankind into the irrational creatures ex-
hibited in history, and fashiOned theta up to the
present hour into those localized beings of coun-
try, sect, class, and party, who now compose the
population of the earth."
7th and Lastly. That the past ages of the world
prest'nt the history of !Inman irrationality only,
and that we are but now advancing towards the
dawn of reason, and to the period when the mind
of man shall be born again.
New Lanark, March 29, 1819. ROBERT OWEN.

SUICIDE.—An Inquisition was taken before
TFIOMAS SHELTON, Esq. Coroner, at the Bull
public-house, New. Diver-road, Newington, on
the body of a female, whose name is unknown,
who was found hanging.—On the evening of Fri-
day week, Miss Partici., who possesses a number
of houses in Newington, was accosted by the de-
ceased,' who told her she had just come to town
from Woolwich, and hail no lodging or friends in
London. Miss Portier told her she had an empty
house, and she would partly furnish it and let it to
her. The deceased went to the bOuse, received the
key,and paid a week's rent in advance ; on the suc-
eeeding days she was seen going in and out frequent-
ly, and she purchased some articles of furniture of
tradesmen in the neighbourhood, one of whom was
on the Jury, and described her conduct as wild; and
her language as incoherent. On Monday the de—
ceased was not seen by the neighbours,. Miss
Pottier found the house door locked, and when
she knocked she received no answer; she em-
ployed a man to get in at the chamber window,
who, on opening the kitchen door, found the de-
ceased suspended by a sitk handkerchief from a
bolt of the door ; her knees nearly touched the
ground ; her clothes were. considerably burnt;. it
appeared that the deceased had put a candle on a
chair near her, which, on burning dowr4, set the
rushes on fire, and communicated to her clothes,
but did not consume them entirely.—Verdict—
" The deceased came to her death by suspending
herself with a handkerchief, being ,at the time de-
ranged in her misad,".