The Statesman.
London, England, 1824-01-29 00:00:00

which load accumulated. amounting to about ,to hi
cancelled by the Company's annual donation. The meet-
ing being called, and its object explained to them, I re-
commended that the contributions should be continued.
rather than that the comforts of the sick and blind should
be curtailed, but requested that the parties present would
take time to consider the subject well, and inform me if
they could suggest any improvement in any of the pro-
posed details. I adopted this course, because i was desi-
rous to discover what progress the older inhabitants had
made in the acquisition of good feelings, and the know-
ledge necessary to enable them to act with humanity and

justice to each other.
1 speedily found however by a paper put into my hands
by a few of the most ignorant and least charitably dis-
posed, worked upon by interested individuals from with-
out the establishment, were attempting to mike these
proceedings subservient to the views and measures of
those who have latterly arrayed themselves in opposition
to the New Syst-m. Seeing this,l re-considered the
subject with those who possessed the most kaowledge and
experience, and who ware disinterested as to the receipts
and expenditure, and such regulations were formed as
were conceived to be the most beneficial for the whole lo-
pulation. At the same time, at the request-of the who: -
named manures of the fowl, I added to their number
one workman from each department, to be chosen by the
operatives themselves; stating that they should have a
report monthly of the receipts and expenditure, that they
might have in one view the amount contributed, and the
sums paid out, with the names of individuals receiving
relief. A second meeting was then called the day before
I left New Lanark for London, and as the regulations
which were communicated to them had ',violently been made
rudely for the benefit of the whole popalation, 1 concluded
that the business was finally settled.
Bait I bad scarcely departed, it seems, when the indivi-
duals who bad been previously irstigated to oppose the
measures which had been proposed for the permanent
good of the villagers, became vary active in concerting a
plan to create dissention and dissatisfaction ; and sonic of
them went so far as to threaten with violence, those who
resisted. They formed a junto, and put the names of some of
the most respectabl inhabitants upon the list,withoot their
knosleolge or consent, and tints imposed upon others
'they mimed a President and a Secretary, and passed such
resolutions as appeared in The Glasgow Chronicle. The
President was a Lean who bad been formerly dischareed
for misconduct, but who, on account of his distressed si-
tuation, and earnest entreaties, had been again employed ;
and the Secretary was an apprentice in the mechanical de.
partment —the only sine who ever left the company's ser-
vice before the expiration of the usual per'enl of serving,
but who also, at the repeated rAnret of his tether, who
had long conducted himself well at the works, was again
received into employment. All the respectable put of the
inhabitants of the village, when they discovered who were
the instigators and attar' in these proceedings, after wart -
log them of their folly, kept aloof tram them, and:as soon
as they knew that a false statement hail been sent to Lon-
don, iinmediately fur; arded a counter-representation to the
same quarter.
Sorb is the history of the domestic distnrhaece which
was fomented in my absence. ITlion my return, to pre-
peeve the rest site order in an extensive manufactory, it
became necessary at time to pet a stop to such p-oceedings,
and I immediately discharged eight of the principal ring-
leaders, ;toying each of them a months' wages in advance.
Considering the manner in which these people have be n
treated for ready 25 years, it could scarcely be expected
that the most ignorant and irretion of them would accuse
use of tyranny. It has been the leading object of my life
to devise and carry into excretion. sorb measures fee the
permanent amelioration of the working classes, as should
ultimately supersede the necessity for any punishment or
severity whatever; and in so far as these have been intro-
duce:l at New Lanark. I have heen most euceessfial. Dur-
ing the whole of these 25 r: er I. I do not recollect applying
to a mono of law to inflict a single peniehment import any
individual. By the roles of the establishment, stilferent
offences were snhjected to pecuniary fines. and these, ex-
lusive of the fines paid on account of illegitimate chil-
dren, have not amounted in the aggregate to -104. a year,
Porten years past, in a popul divot of 2,5141 souls. These
lines were always paid into the village fund fur relief of
the sick and aged. In the schools no punishment ie per•
'flitted. As the improvement of the popnlation of New
Lanark seas a mere speck in the proceedings which 1 con-
templated, and as the consequent necessity of my being
mach from home was faresten, 1 adopted two general mea-
sures, by which 1 endeavoured to secure their independence
and their happiness, as far as regulations could effect this,
cinder the peculiar circumstances in which we stood in re-
lation to each other, as muter and servants in a manufac-
turing establrehment. carried on for the pecuniary gain of
a company of proprietors. A general store was established
for their Owns fit, and that its object might never be friss-
:rated, a regulation was made that no one should ever he
asked to purchase -there, or be prevented in any manner
from freely purchasing elsewhere, whenever they thought
they could he better served. This was such a cheek upon
the managers of the store, as rendered it necessary tbat
they Omni,' purchase the best artirles only, nt the lowest
prices, and sell them accordingly. The other ass, that no
advantage should be taken of the distresses of persons ap-
plying for work at the establishment, by engaging either
individuals or families for many years at fixed wages—a
very o oatinon practice in similar inanufectories. Therefore,
it any fon not themselves a egrieveiLthey could remove at any
time on giving ole mem h's notice; but in general, if they
thought they could improve their conditiou by a change,
they were allowed to go at a day's notice.
Under such regulations I knew no tyranny could be
exercised by any parties over these people, and the most
active proof of the happy effects which have been pro-
duced, is that the changes among the managers and work-
people have been singularly few in number. 'the super-
intendant of the mechanical department has been in his
present situation as first and second master; the superin-
tendent of the mills as first and second master; the superin-
tendent of the store, and the greater part of the beads of
families, from 15 to 39 years.

Still. however, I do not a(tribote blame to the poor de-
luded iudividusls whom I have been obliged to discharge,
or to any of their associates who remain. I dismissed the
former, not because I thought it just, but because, as in
every other instance in which I have inflicted punishment,
it was expedient and necessary under the circumstances in
which I was placed. The reel cause of that which is to be
lamented in their conduct, is referable to the great error
which society has committed, in &Honing them to remain
in a state of ignorance, which exposes them to such delu-
sion; audio the present instance, I attribute blame to my-
self rather than to these poor men. I ought long ago to
have proceeded, as I intended, to remove the ignorance of
the elder part of the inhabitants of New Lanark, by insti-
tuting regular lectures for their instruction, to be given
after the hours of work ; and if 1 had done so, it is not
probable that any of them could now have been influenced
to an act iaditeet opposition to their own interest and hap-
piness. But from this mode of proceeding I was deterred,
by a desire to avoid even an appearance of interfering
with the opinions of the population.
Ldefer, till your next publication, some important eon-
siderations regarding elmstianity, and its relation to the
New Systems.
New Lanark, Jan. 13,1824.

RONIRT OWIN.