The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1848-07-20
Fourie,ism In France, and the Tribune.


dous pair of horns an uncou'h iorm, an ugly face, |
and cloven foot known by the euphonious title |
of Beelzebub, alias the Prince OF Darkness, &c,
can, as the old saw goes, quote Scripture to suit
his own purposes and for the advancement of his
own private ends. So he can; and we are not DIS
posed 10 doubt it. Let any whose pretensions
are not so great as those of the highly respectable
genius we have named, carefully peruse anything
that can be read, and extract such parts Of he
thinks fit, and the probability is, that it will an
swer his peculiar purposes Or at all events, enable
him to give reason for the faith which Is in
him. So it Is with Philosopher Greeley, Of the
Tribune, who may, in all candor, be termed the
Fourierite Beezebub of the year 1913, in these
United States.
Let us explain.
Philosopher Greeley takes parts and parcels of
the foreign Partisan correspondence of several
journals in this city, in reference to the late
bloody scenes in Paris, incorporates them, with
out reference TO the precedents subsequents
contained therein, and vauntingy declaims Am
alone In my Fourierite propensihes! See here
let the world look on. Do not these correspon-
dents agree with what have repeatedly asserted
through the columns of my paper? Faith, | have
caught the revilers of Fourierism at last; and
having caught them, am determined to nail them
by the ears to the town pump, as an example to
the revilers of my llusrous prototype, Fourier,
well evidence OF the correctness of myvlews,
so often repeated, respecting the rights of labor
and the duty of the government to regulate it on a
solid basis, so that for all time hereafter, every
man who wishes to labor, and will be en-
ployed at remunerating prices, that all can
support their families in comfort" &C., &c, &C.,
and &c.
On this slim foundation, Philosopher Greeley
builds editorial article; and, after making
considerable flourish, having carried, as he thinks
everything before him, and nailed each and every
revier of Fourierism to the town pump by the ear
he coldly says, that the great pity that nothing
definite settled by the bloody scenes which
have recently TRANSFERRED in France. This, to say
the least, is very ambiguous He had thought
that something-and great thing, and matter
of the highest and most important consequence
had been settled by the result of that Instruction
viz: that the curriers' of Paris are not the people
of France, albeit they did assist in sending Louis
Philippe adrft on the English Channel in fisher
mans boat, trusting to Providence and good luck
for safe deliverance from the peris of his enc
mics and the elements. 1Sey rose the recent
occasion in arms, with the intention of pillaging
and burning the city of Paris, because, forsooth,
the National Assembly did not provide them with
an abundance of work at exorbiant wages and,
in their suicidal course, were shot down in the
streets by thousands, they deserved, by the
orderly and well disposed portion of the commu-
nifty. Their prompt suppression, although it was
attended with great loss of life the part OF the
good and orderly portion of the community, is, we
n he rfIO thafn
was settled by that encounter. So far from this
being the case, we think Philosopher Greeley
might have spared his regrets and his tears if he
shed any, tor more fitting occasion; for very
important prnciple-one lying at the base, and
forming the very foundation of all republican 60
vernments-wasm most decisively and unequivocally
settled and disposed of. This principle, in few
words, is this-that the friends of law and order
in the majority in all civilized countries; and,
when occasion demands it, can suppress all at
tempts of the mob, the canaaHe, the ruiiians, who
congregate in all large cities, IN their attempts to
create anarchy confusion, disorder, rapine and
bloodshed. This, in our opinion is a very i'm
portant principle, and we differ with our cotem-
porary very much indeed, when he asserts that
nothing was settled or determined by the suppress
sion of that Instruction.
But it may be that we have mistaken him and
this is highly probabe for he says that the causes
of that instruction still exist, and therefore it is
that he regrets that nothing was settled or deter
mined by this bloody catastrophe. Well be it so;
but we cannot join In such regret. The cause, if
we understand Founerism is this that the curriers'
Of Paris were not provided with work by the go
vernment, which ought to have been the case,
inasmuch as they, the oupriers, achieved the
luton which put the present government in power;
and having done so, they are entitled to the bene-
fits which they suppose it ought to confer on them
by abundance of work, good wages, &c, &c.
They have hitherto been so foolish as to think
that labor, like everything else, was regulated by
demand and supply; but our views on such matters
may not agree with those of Fourier, his dis
cipe in this city, who edits the Fourier organ.
We shall, however, risk the correctness of our
views, and boldly assert, that If there de-
mand for labor in Francois il was natural
should be the case for while at least-thc price OF
labor would be low, and a great many of the
laborers might be unemployed, Is the case fire. /
quenty in the United States, especially when
nothing, in business point ofview, is doing This,
on the other hand, may be admitted by the |
Tribune; but the editor OF that journal will mme-
diatey turn round and say it should not be so, and
it ought not to be So and ii would not be the case
if the principles of association, communism, or
Founerism, were at the foundation of our political |
organization. Such is the substance of his argu-
ment IN his leading article in the Tribune of Satur-
day. With this we entirely disagree. If the 60
vernment of a country can justifiably interfere,
either to promote or to retard the interests of any
class of society, it can do with ALL II it can
provide work, 1t can regulate the price of work.
If it can interfere with the laborer il can, on the
same principle, interfere with the mechamc-the
tailor, the shoemaker. the carpenter, &c. and il
II can interfere with them, 1t can with the