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

TELE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, AUGUST 17.

DEPARTURE OF ROBERT OWEN

r affection, is in your case no subject of anxiety. But
if fortune can be influenced by our hopes, you will
not only reach them in safety, but return in health
to witness the realisation of those plans of human
progression with which the name of Robert Owen
will, through future time, be associated.
GEORGE JACOB HOLYOAKE.
MALTUS QUZSTALL RYALL.
Mr. Owen replied at considerable length to these
addresses, in topics principally relating to the policy
and general affairs of the Socialist body, and gave
earnest advice as to the manner in which they should
be conducted during his absence from England, which
he stated would be from eight to nine months.
Several leading members of the Society also ad-
dressed the meeting, and after a sitting of nearly four
hours, the meeting, which exhibited in the most un-
equivocal manner the esteem and strong affection in
which Mr. Owen is held by his disciples, separated,
highly satisfied with the proceedings of the morning.

FOR AMERICA.

Last 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, John-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 unwearied 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
visible in every direction, and time, as it rolls on, will
only the more evidence the depth and extent f 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, is but 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."
_ _

THE LEAGUE and ITS ADVISERS.
ptbipshreeeeevSe
sne].
givingcuarrpcyn,
iaradbmci
courteous
oyewctdi
nbopp isrlaeneetril i
riateseodns
and no
tchhhfhntueaetrosvhi
doctrine,
beeneemse,nviolatedt
fbtiseizedee-hesecaeiton rtendered.n
ofaomriaylotvslhua, withe sneL tnaes
paloalhgTatyrmuodeshe
ecni
arrant
arearnTnr
hbaeif
arrant
" quackery." Nor is the League convinced, by such
testimony as has been offered, of its own failing health
and energy. We believe ourselves to be as vigorous
as ever, and moving onwards, with firm and steady
pace,
lun to
te e t he
doctors
ofth
pilots
oe
distressf tsoaccomplishmentLeagueo
mustour object.first
demonstratevo-
lunteer
forlts dthiseeassige.nalTihaeg f typarbefosrheouthld veeyhpaut waitedtitesdo
hastily,,
to assosm from a
ume
ethe
gulidhainge,eaon he
of the
tohtegrosofarom a Tory
ship,and
tow her like a wreck out of the reach of storms. We
will not, however, be so unthankful to our admo-
nishers as utterly to neglect their counsels. They
shall each be heard in turn ; and, first, the Morning
Chronicle, as hoisting, in its professions, the broadest
flag of friendliness.
The leading article of the Chronicle, on Saturday,
the 10th instant, commences with what it terms a
frank confession of inability to comprehend the policy
of the League "in sending candidates for the mere pur-
pose of experiencing a certain defeat at elections." The
Dudley contest only served, as our Contemporary
thinks, to expose the nakedness of the land, and make
apparent the fact, which might not otherwise have
been so clear, how " completely in a minority" were
the conscientious free traders of that constitueacy.
Now, if the leaders of the League had any parti-
cular apprehension about being "completely in a mi-
nority," the Anti-Corn-law agitation would never
have been commenced and continued; nor any other
movement for obtaining justice from a predominant
class interest. It was the very fact of being in a mi-
nority that rendered agitation necessary, and that
requires its continuance. To transform an electoral
and, through that, a representative minority into a
majority, is the very end and aim of our exertions.
We shall not accomplish that by false appearances.
To acquire a fictitious prestige by only fighting when
g may be clever tactics for a faction,
simple course of honest men working
but
te is of
nowtintnhien
out an honest purpose. Our defeats are the seeds of
future victory. They excite local discussion. They
leave increased knowledge of the subject, more en-
lightened principle,-and stimulated zeal, to germinate
in men's minds. They leave the conviction of truth
and justice, which, with deference to our counsellor,
we hold to be a more efficient thing than "the repu-
tation of power" founded upon the dexterous avoid-
ance of collision.
To ascertain, by actual experiment, the fact, as to
such a constituency as that of Dudley, is a portion
of the pledge under which the League has laid itself
to the public. Its course of operation, distinctly
marked out, and not that we remember condemned
by the Chronicle when promulgated, is to appeal to
the constituencies of the kingdom on the free-trade
question. Into that court the cause was carried,
when petitions to Parliament were abandoned. Now,
such a town as Dudley, by the occupations of its
inhab i
et
(600) of its regis-
teredis fairly marked out for a voice in
the verdict asked for by the League from the elec-
electors,
inhabitants, theos? amount
and
the ofn u
m its
about b e r
tors. We cannot pass it by. We desire not to
blink the truth. Is Dudley for trade or for mono-
poly ? Let the world know its answer. The League
is bound to put the question. For the character of
the reply, the Dudley constituency is responsible..
That reply may not accord with public opinion ; it
may have nullified the voices and crushed the wishes
of their non-voting neighbours, as expressed on the
day of nomination ; but that is the business of the
Dudley electors. They have their consolations—they
have pleased Lord Ward ; and we wish them joy of
their bargain.
Those who are toiling for truth and justice through-
out the country, should see what they have to con-
tend with. The full extent of difficulty and obstacle
should be before them. Not only should they be
aware of the sixty or seventy close boroughs, com-
pletely under aristocratical and monopolist control ;
as entirely nomination boroughs, as any that existed
in the days of Gatton and Old Sarum ; but they
must also be made to perceive the amount of un-
due influence over the larger constituencies, the
wide-spreading malignity of corruption and intimi-
dation, the gross ignorance in some cases, and the
base unprincipledness and spontaneous servility in
others, of the electoral system ; and the ever-dis-
turbing power of party spirit. Instead of forgetting,
palliating, or glossing over such elections as those of
Dudley, and yet more, of Birmingham and South
Lancashire, we would fix the gaze of the public
upon them; just as we lead a startled horse up to the
object that annoyed him,
and walk him round and
round, till he recovers the alarm. In these chapters
of defeat, free-traders find the texts of their work
and duties. It has long been understood and pro-
claimed that our agitation involves an electoral puri-
fication, the raising ofvoters' minds to a better con-
ceptionof knowledge and principle amongst those with
whom political power is deposited; and who could
of the sacredness of their trust, a diffusion
ever dream of achieving this task without encounter-
ing, again and again, the' risk of being left at the
poll "completely in the minority ?" And who would
not brave this while the corrective fact remains
unquestionable, that we never are so left in a minority
at a fair open meeting of the people, whether of a
borough or of a county?
The obvious truth is, that the Chronicle fears we
are damaging the Whigs by these contests. It wants
to sink the League into a section of the Whig party,
not " inclined to pursue its own particular object,
' without co-operation with others." But the League
is so inclined. It exists for that very purpose. A
Whig may be " an open enemy of our cause," not
less than a Tory. Whether a Ministry is to be
" turned
,out of, or mainta,ined in, office on one single
question, ' is no concern of ours. The adoption, by
whomsoever the country may be governed, of a dis-
tinct principle and policy, in commercial matters, is
our object. In causing the defeat, should we chance
to cause it, of that curious animal, a monopolist Li-
beral, we lose no friend. Nor is it true, as
the Chronicle insinuates, that the League has
thrust candidates forward to the injury of
those who were partially with us, as opposed to
candidates who were entirely against us. is either at
Hastings, nor at Exeter, did the free-trade candi-
date prevent " any other kind of Liberal candidate"
from offering himself, and ascertaining his better
such chance existed. The field
chance
Noh,
ana
sgn
hc
perfectlyet.
It is
too much for them now to cryf open.
The Whigs
ran away, and we
f
out
The
thhea
at
rtthi
celier gloriouson
whichw
victorye was obstructed by our
not running away also.
were commenting is not
very erroneously estimated in the assurance of another
Morning
League in a style
Herald, that " the
more hostile than we (to abuse whom • -
meetingshave
ruvceoubnaseeklsleirtss,
ftrhieenf
been expressly called), have ever adopted?' When
and where these meetings were held is not specified
by our venerable Contemporary. Of course they
oCfhroou7
have been reported in the journal interested : but
that ensures no very large publicity- How large,
or how limited, the friends of "the speculation" in
office seem averse to letting the world know, as
we are not to be favoured in future with the
usual stamp returns, indicating the number of stamps
bought (whether used or not) by the different
newspapers. However, the fact certainly is, as the
Herald confesses, that the mere " mention" of itself,
and " such newspapers" is generally very "productive
of merriment in the intelligent audience at
may add,
Covent-
garden," and we in any other intelligent
audience throughout the country.
But our most solicitous counsellor is—who would
believe it ?—the Agricultural Protection Society,
" Richmond, President?' A circular from this for-
midable body, with the a'sove august signature, de-
scribes the League to be in a " fearful state, and one
greatest skill to remedy."
requiring the Such kind-
ness, from such a quarter, quite melts us. We must
take till next week to show our gratitude. We trust
we are not beyond the skill which can grace the
Duke's name with a prize for a thoroughbred
stallion from the judges of the Royal Agricultural
society by a "roarer" to which his steward after-
wards confesses ownership.
To return to the Morning Chronicle. The writer
wishes us to be one with the Whigs, both in our
object and in the means adopted for its attainment.
That object would then become such as he states it ;
the practical result to be, " the transferring political
power from the aristocratic faction now predominant
to more liberal statesmen,"i. e., Lord J. Russell and
his colleagues. Now, for making this the object of
the League, the writer has no better warrant than his
own wishes, in defiance of repeated declarations to the
contrary. On such ground we should confess the
League at fault most grievously. And the girds-

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 conferring 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 allow
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—" Oh ! 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 ratioual 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, and pointed
to the equality of mankind. By your writings wealth
has been taught its true office, and enslaved industry
the means of emancipation ; human nature has been
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
your
having
i,tvwritings
guardianshipvtliednd gb
swe oait
within
dii anmyptoi providenceulueg rn spherel
tfhewe lioegfri
heny
philosophy
is
ysehirt
lehtootiohousn
ouefirt
dpgrupehi
heueryntmomp ,
usefulnesscubaednohs o.
it
td f
in the practice of morality, and to anticipate the
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
h
ot 0
ne-
cessary to excuse ourselves for having, on some par-
f
itieacssup leaer
ts,
ind
emanateddisisvei
dn fromtueadiit
yf
independence
t.
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

sion would establish a charge of unprincipledness and
deception against its leaders which the whole his-
tory of the agitation rebukes and repels. The writer
knows better. He is aware that what he assumes
to be our end is only his own. He complains of
the " erroneous impression" of the leaders of the
League " that they are going to carry all before
them, merely by the strength of their own
great principle." Why, then, should he affect to
try their conduct by his own little principle ? Why
urge the objection that might equally have been
made to Clarkson in his warfare against the slave
trade, and to the Parliamentary Reformers anterior to
1829 ? Why treat the assertion of a principle, as if
it were only a trick of party policy ? And why mis-
state some facts, and suppress others, to drive free-
traders into the ranks of Whiggery by the penalty of
being deemed impracticables ? A writer who as-
sumes to be so well informed about Hastings and
Exeter should also be aware of the mode in which
m,

ost of the late vacancies have occurred, and of the
previous arrangements between the retiring and
succeeding parties. The monopolists, as at Devizes,
Cirencester, Dudley, &c., have chosen their own
opportunity. Yet our " friend" makes the most
of defeat, just to submit the charge of wrong-
headedness if we do not consult the policy of
the Whigs. And there is also a practical mis-
representation in his mode of isolating the
League from the constituencies in which these
gallant, though unsucceszful, efforts were made.
Why, they, these minorities, are the League too, as
much as those of us who, being its members, live and
vote in London or in Manchester. They profess its
principles, aid its funds, and teach its doctrines.
Where has the League fought an electoral battle but
as the ally of its own members upon the spot ? Where
has it not left them the initiative ? Where has it not
deferred to their opinion, when decidedly opposed to
putting a candidate in nomination? Is it then for the
Chronicle, or for any party journal, whether Whig or
Tory, to revive the calumny and cant of last October,
and talk of "strangers whose homes are in Lan-
cashire ?" We thought the citizens of London had
abolished that nonsense for ever. The Chronicle pro-
fesses to desire our " complete success." Let it help,
then, not by striving to link us to the fallen fortunes
of a beaten party, but by advocating principle para-
mount to all party ; and secure of eventual success,
not by dexterity and mystification, but by the inevit-
able though progressive enlightenment and determi-
nation of pnblic opinion.—The League.