Star.
London, England, 1830-02-01 00:00:00

MR. OWEN.

ADDRESS TO THE INFANT SCHOOL SOCIETIES,
AND TO THE PATRONS OF INFANT SCHOOLS.

You have seen the effects of Infant Schools, as they
have been introduced into practice, in various pails of ti..
kingdom ; and that practice, imperfect as it is, has been
sufficient to induce you to encourage the extension of
them throughout the British dominion..
But Infant Schools, upon the principles from which
they originated and were first introduced into practice,
do not belong to the system of Society in which you,
in common with the whole human race, are involved.
The Infant Schools, from which all modern Infant
Schools in Europe and America have emanated, belongs,
altogether, to another system of society; to one, the re-
verse in all respects of that, by which the world has been
hitherto governed. This Infant School was established
as the first practical step, in a system intended to super-
sede that which has ever pervaded savage and civi-
lized life.

It was an experiment, to ascertain how the practice of
this new system, would be received by those, educated
under the principles of the old ; and the result has been
most satisfdctory.
But these Infant Schools are an anomaly in the In:i-
tem, in which you and the inhabitants of the world havu
been trained to feel, to think, and to act; and, assuredly,
these Schools, on the principles on which the first was
established, or the system which the world now supports
must be abandoned : for they are in a direct opposition to
each other.

The existing system of the world (and there never has
been any other known to the present race of man) has
been founded altogether on the supposition that each it,-
dividual is born with the power to feel anti to think as
he pleases.
The Infant School was foxided, in order to exhilik
the world the fallacy of this supposition ; in order to
prove, that the nature of nr.in has not been untlerstoed
our ancestors ; and that tho laws of human unto, hue•
been, hitherto, an enigma, even to the intelliget,t, • this
past and present time.
It was founded, first, to demonstrate to the learned and
the unlearned, that man does not possess the power to
feel and to think as he likes, or to form his own c!.a.
meter.

Secondly, to prove that the human race has been,
through all past time up to the present hour, irrational ;
and, that every individual may, hereafter, ba trained
from infancy to become a rational or consistent being, in
his feelings, thoughts, and actions.
Thirdly, to prove that all the inferior passions, vice
and miseries of mankind, proceed from the supposition
that each individual has the power, within himself, to feel
land to think as he pleases; and, that from the knowledge
that he has not this power, will emanate universal charity
and kind feelings, and that a very superior character v ill
be formed for the whole human race.

Fourthly, to prove that all the nations of the earth are,
at this moment, under a mental delusion with regard to
themselves, and the means of attaining a superior cha•
racter and happiness ; and, consequently, that a rational
Infant School and the present system of society, cannot
co-exist.

A right system of education has never yet been seen
in practice ; as one possessing that character, could not
exist under the system which has been alone known in
the world. The prejudices which this system has forced
all to receive from infancy, have been an insurmountable
obstacle to the formation of an establishment, to educate
human beings to become rational.
All seminaries of learning. have been founded to instil
the notions of man's responsibility, under the suppasition,
that he is so organised as to possess the power to feel am!
to think as he pleases ; and consequently, they have been
established, without one exception, to destroy, in the most
effectual manner, the rational and superior faculties of the
human rate.

None of these seminaries, therefore, deserve notice,
when the foundation of a rational system of instruction
for the rising generation from infancy, is under coniidera-
tion.

The rational Infant School, whicli was established at
New Lanark, end opened on the lst of January, 1816, by
a public discourse, explanatory of th;., princ'ples on which
it was founded, and of the conseque.:ces which were ex-
pected to result from its establishment, emanated from
knowledge of human nature ; derived from a calm an;
attentive consideration of the facts relative to its organi
cation manifested at the birth of an infant, and of the
formation of its character during its growth to maturity.
From an accurate attention to those facts, it berm-,
obvious that the whole character of every infant, child,
and man, is formed for him ; that in every instance, at
every instant of time, it is created by a union of the original
organiation of the infant, with the impressions made upon
it by the general and particular circumstances, in which
the individual i placed from birth to death ; and that
the character of every human being, is, without an ex-
ception, an effect necessarily proceeding from the: e
united causes.

Consequently, all that man can do for man, is to ado: t
the most efficient measures to improve the fature orga-
nisation of all individuals of his race, and to zurround
them by these circumstances only, which experience ma,-
prove to be the most effectual, to create the best or 111Gtzt
superior character in each of them.
To attempt to establish a system of training and in-
struction her the human race, upon any principles t 1 1:n
those developed by nature, will continue to make man an
ignorant, imbecile, vicious, irrational, and misernb:o
being, inferior to many of the animals in health, consis-
tency, and enjoyment; and superior to them only by hi,
powers of speech and invention.
lf, therefore, you desire to encomage the Introduction
of rational Infant Schools throughout society, you momt
acquire a knowledge of the principles on which they are•
founded, and the practice which is nece••sary to tl•cir
success.

And more, if you wi.,h the children and the pul,lic to
derive permanent benefit from them, you must establish
other schools on the same principles, in which to receive
the children who shall have passed through the court e of
education which will be given to them In the rational in-
fant schools.

And in these seminaries of instruction, in which none
bat rational circumstances should be permitted to exist,
the character of each individual should be matured; and
then, and then only, will the saying be verified, that
" train up a child in the way he should go, and when he
is old he will not depart from it."
But perhaps you will now ask, where is there a ra-
tional Infant School to be sern, as a specimen that we
night adopt its practice
None exists; none can exist under your present syt-
tan of belief, respecting the power of man to feel and
think as be pleases.
The nearest approximation that has yet been made tear
the New Lanark Infant School, as it existed from the
Tear 1822 to 1824, when it approached as near to a
rational infant School, ee the prejedicei of the proprie-
tors and of the public would bear, and thiklren v