New-York daily tribune., 1844-03-07
The Public Adversaries of Association
Are they HonestI


prejudice the cause of Social Reform and cover with
obloquy its advocates. Is this attempted by man
ly argument by taking up the fundamental
positions of the Associatlonists and proving them
unsound Very far from it. The iavorlte weap-
ons Of those who see fit to oppose the new idea
are detracton of its advocates, which II true prove
nothing to the purpose and studous endeavors
to connect Association with something that they
can abuse to some purpose. 1t is Owenism-ltl Is
infideEtv-it is a new relgion-any thing and
every thing but plan for more perfectly COM
bining Capital and Labor and reconstruct
ing Society to the advantage of all parties,
the securing of vast Economies and means of
universal Comfort and Culture This aspect Of
the matter the opponents of the plan are resolved
never to look at.
There is a striking example of this perverse-
ness in a late Cincinnati Chronicle, which will OF
course be copied and exclaimed over by the Cou-
rier. Herald, and their cobuwarks of Christiani-
ty, Social Order, sc. against the imagined as
saults of Fourierism It seems that some genius
in Cincinnati has dug out of work by Fourier
paragraph relating to the relations OF the Sexes,
which proposes to tolerate Inconsistency This he
declares is a part of the Social Reform advocated
by the Fourersts, and goes into mysteries accord
ingly. Yet the writer knew perfectly well this
was no part of the Social Reform advocated by
the Assocationists-he knew, If he had ever read
Fourier's Works, that this early specula-
ton of his, put forth in work which he himself
afterward declared to abound in errors. This
very idea Of sexual liberty, so Justly condemned
by the Cincinnatian, but so unjustly imputed to
those who never accepted and most OF whom
never heard of it, is among those abandoned by
him.
But what if it were otherwise =? What ifhe
had persisted in error on this and other points =
had been an infidel, or any thing else you please
what has all that to do with the truths he dis
covered and proclaimed, and of the worth Of
which these sanderers Of the Assocatonsts vir-
tuay admit their conviction, by endeavorlng to
conceal them All will presume that man
who speculated SO volumniously and so boldly on
the profoundest questions, passing fearlessly be-
yond the limits of all former speculation, must
have fallen into many errors even where ne be-
leved he was enunciating vital Truths, apart
from the many ideas he expressly put forth as
coniectural Let these pass for what they are
worth-the thousands who have accepted Fou
rier's plan Of Social and Industrial Organization
mot because it is his but because is true) have no
more to do with them than the Protestant world
have with Luthcr's personal alterations with the
Devil.
''I have taken these passages" says the Gin
cinnati man, to prove that Fourlerlsm is not
Christianity, and Christianity is not Fourierism."
or course not-who ever said otherwise Chris
tianty is not Railroad nor a Steamboat nor
is it either of thousand other things which
have been discovered and adapted to improve
the condition of mankind since the Chris
tian Era All that the Fourierists have as
serted is that Association is the reduction to
practice Of the principles of the Christian Rell
gion, in the Social and Industrial relations man.
kind But it is not a religion, sect, a party;
and men of all faiths may assent to it, without
changing their creeds, just as they may choose to
live in Paris or Germany, and become convinced
of the truth of Galvanism or the philosophy OF
Bacon That Association 1Das consistent with
Christianity its earliest purity, when they that
believed were together, and had all things IN
common is testified by the Sacred Record,
Acts 3, 44) The logic of the Cincinnati man
is worthy the Caliph who burned the Alexandrlan
Library.
We are forced by daily observation to the
painful conclusion that there are very many among
us who from their inmost souls abhor and dread
the idea of better Social condition for the ig-
norant, degraded masses OF our fellow men-who
fear the time will come when there will be a de-
fciency of material for ostlers, boot-blacks,
kitchen drudges and worshipers Of their intellect
ual and social greatness. On no other hypothe-
Sis can we account for the storm Of oboquy, mis-
representation and detraction which any plan for
the elevation of the lowly invariably encounters.
This is sad, but it is not nsurmountable. A good
Providence must surely smile on every unsefsh
effort for the diminuton Of human wretchedness,
for the lifting up of the down-trodden; and the
seed sown in self-sacrifice and sorrow shall yet be
gathered in thankfulness and JOY.
WASHINGTON MoNUMENT.-We have received a
magnificent Lithographic View of the Monument to
Washington proposed 10 be erected in this city. 1t
is drawn by G. Pollard, Architect, end is from the
lithographic press of E. Jones, l26 Fulon-st. The
Monument is to be built in the pointed Gothic style,
and its nlsn Is that of Penta oOn SO feet In diane
ter, and the whole hight of the structure, from the
walk to the top Of the crockett OF the pinnacle, 422
feet