The life of Robert Owen

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bohn's libraries were inaugur-
ated IN 1847 BY HENRY GEORGE
BOHN, AND IN 1864 WERE TAKEN
OVER BY THEIR PRESENT PUBLISHERS.
ROBERT OWEN WAS BORN AT NEW-
TOWN, MONTGOMERY, ON MAY 1 4,
177 1, AND DIED AT NEWTOWN ON
NOV. ig, 1858. THIS VOLUME IS
REPRINTED FROM THE ORIGINAL
EDITION OF 1857-1858, WHICH HAS
BEEN OUT OF PRINT FOR MANY
YEARS. >

ii >

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INTRODUCTION <

Robert Owen (1771-1858) is a' unique figure in the
general history of socialism. ^Unlike Plato; and Saint-
Simon, (he was of \humble parentage, and unlike Thomas
More, Karl Marx,) and Sidney Webb,(ihis scho'^l educa-
tion was of the most elementary kind) and he started
out on his career with the three R's. Moreover, unUke
all communist, socialist, and anarchist leaders, he was a
most successful business man, manufacturer, and social
reformer ; as such he knew no failure. His Auto-
biography will endure as a monument of strength of
character, of charm of personality, of pure and high-
minded resolve in the service of humanity. In the
Middle Ages, he might have been a socialist Loyola
or an Arnold of Brescia. When he arrived at the con-
viction that by the application of his views, mankind
could be made wise, wealthy, and happy, he did not
hesitate for a moment to sacrifice all he possessed.
" And my decision was made to overcome all opposition
and to succeed or to die in the attempt " (see infra,
p. 181). He strove to make social progress the result
of the conscious and purposeful efforts of man, instead of
Igiying it to the fortuitous play of blind forces.
'/jHe was the first British vvriter^ho grasped the mean-
ing of the Industrial Revolutiolf?;!^While British States-
men and statisticians were astonished and bewildered at

vi INTRODUCTION

c

the industrial phenomena that overtook them during
and after the Napoleonic Wars, Owen, with his strong
and simple intellect, saw the source and volume of the
^ new wealth, and he_^tempted__to_jegulate the con-
;^ jinnally^ risirvg stream of producima^— tn control the
inanimate machinerj^s^well as the^^eed of the em-
ployers, and to_educaj£^theJ[aSounng population, with
^a^view to a peaceful j^adiustment of sor.ietji;^ to ^he r^^w
conditionsT ' — -^^^ "' '

^^^S^iTreform activities he could not but arrive at the
conclusion that the social problem was essentially a
moral one. ( He witnessed, on the one hand, the low
mental condition of the factory operatives, and, on the
other, the ruthless lust of gain of the employers and
■fv their hostility towards all attempts to lift Labour to a
higher level of human lifey( The character of man, then,
stood in the way of reform. But how was character
formed ? Evidently, either by man himself or by
present and past circumstances. Owen adopted the
JL- view, since _it was ^n conformity with the ideas
^. I he had_^^uiied_from^practical experience as well as
■" ■ /iEQE^ationalist literatura.an(i^it was also in accorda

accordance
witKJhe^trildng^^haii^es^w he h^d seen arising

',Jn_the process of the Industrial Revolution, jvhen the
JQ^^c^torstanceTlfactory system) produced new social
' strata and~viewsj( The~ mission of the reformer, there-
~Iore, coulcTnot consist of preaching, admonishing, and
punishing the sinners, but of changing the social circum-
stances— of removing the evil conditions that favoured
ignorance, selfishness, crime,'^misery, hypocrisy, super-
- stition, enmity, and war, and^f_creating good conditions
^ thai favoured knowledge, health, courage, brotherly
^ feelings, and social service) ^ :

(.The creation of good circumstances depended on 1«wo
conditions •) abundance of wealth and (education of

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INTRODUCTION

' the masses/; Th4JsfiMw« conditions ^he, saw being ful
filled in the years from 1812 onwards, 1 With might and
main he worked for popular education, factory legis-
lation, co-operative labour, and village communities
for the unempj[oyed. His refomiing zeal and ration-
alist views drew, upon him the enmity of Capital andifhe
disfavour of the Church, and finally drove hiinjnto the

^rmsof communism (l8i7)and Labour propaganda.
(Meanwhile, his New Lanark establishment, with its
model social reform and educational achievements,
acquired worldfwide fame — and made converts to the
"^ew Views. "yl In 1821 Owen was at the zenith of
his successful manufacturing and reforming career, but
already immersed in his communist plans which he was
sketching out for the future. He_w[thdrew froin_
business, and sank his money in communist experiments
in America (1824-28). In these hefailed. His failure
was due to the incompleteness ofhis theory of char-
acter formation. For, contrary to» rationalist views,
new social surroundings and circumstances do not
operate directly on our intellect and volition, nor do
they accomplish their work within the period of a few
years. Their noiseless transforming operations on our
nervous system and mentality are a slow biological
process which may take generations before the old im-
pulses, strivings, and passions are sufficiently weakened
as to allow the new emotions to take effect. These
psychological processes are the cause of those painful
disappointments to which revolutionary enthusiasts
are exposed whenever they try to force the sudden
emergence of socialism from capitalist society.

At the return of Owen from America (1828) the
British working classes were "eslablishing cu-upeiaLive'
societies, and making ready to enter the political and
economic stniggle for emancipation. Although differ-

viii INTRODUCTION

ing in some respects from their methods and ends, he
assisted them as best he could. He and they knew
that the path of Labour's progress was strewn with
lost strikes, miscarried plans, and shatte^d ideals —
and, for all that, they were marching on.^Owen will
live in their annals as the pioneer of poputarfeducation, i
factory legislation, jco-operative movement, and as one
of the gieate^t, most unselfish, ahd least demagogical
teachers and leaders they ever hi'^X

NOTE

References are made throughout this book to varioiis
documents which the author intended to collect in a
supplementary volume. This volume, owing to the
author's death, was never issued. It has, however,
seemed advisable ^ot to alter these references in the
text.

PREFACE

The greatest discovery that man has made for the
universal happiness of his race through all future time
is the knowledge of the facts for practice, — " That the
" made receives all its qualities from its maker, and
" that the created receives all its qualities and powers
" from its Creator."

It is the greatest discovery, because man to this day,
in opposition to the myriads of facts existing around
him through all past generations to the present, has
been taught to think that the made and created make
their own qualities and powers. Such, in fact, has been
the teaching of the superstitions, governments, laws, and
institutions of men, through all past generations ; sucb-
is their teaching at this day ; and this teaching deranges
the rational faculties of all so taught, and perverts their
judgment to so great an extent as in most cases to
make it worse than useless on all subjects of the highest
importance to the individual and to our race.

It is the greatest discovery, — because it thus discloses
the origin of evil among men, and the means by which
to remove the evil for ever.

It is the greatest discovery, — because it discloses the
cause why men have never yet been made to become
good, wise, united, and happy ; and why so large a mass
of the population of the world has always been kept in

X PREFACE

a state of gross ignorance and degradation, and has been
afflicted with so much mental misery and physical
suffering.

It is the greatest discovery, — because it opens the
brond, plain, and easy path, for the authorities of the
world to adopt decisive practical measures to make all
to become good, wise, united, healthy, abounding in
wealth, and always physically and mentally happy.

It is the greatest discovery, — because the knowledge
of our nature which it discloses will induce all to en-
deavour to promote the happiness of all, by the gieat
unceasing pleasure which each will derive from the
practice.

It is the greatest discovery, — because it will terminate
all anger, ill-will, contests, and wars, among men and
nations, and will make the art of war to be no longer
taught, and to cease for ever.

It is the greatest discovery, — because it discloses the
means by which the human race, through futurity, may
with ease and pleasure be made <o become full-formed
superior men and women, with all their physical and
mental faculties, powers, and propensities, cultivated to
be each exercised to the point of temperance.

It is the greatest discovery, — because it discloses the
incalculable importance of superior surroundings in
which to place humanity — surroundings all superior, to
the exclusion of those which are inferior.

It is the greatest discovery, — because it opens a new
book of life to man, and will enable him to perceive more
clearly what manner of being he is ; that he is formed
by a double creation — the one, previous to birth, a
mysterious and divine organization of wonderful powers,
yet more wondrously combined, physically and mentally ;
the other a secondary or new creation, superadded, to
bring the first to its earthly maturity, and chiefl}- through

y

PREFACE xi

the agency of matured humanity, to which is given the
greatest interest that this secondary creation should be
in accordance with the first, and without which, man
^vill be misformed, and will not attain the happiness for
which he is evidently intended by the perfection of his
first or divine creation.

It is the greatest discovery, — because it will enable
man to know himself, and by knowing himself to know
humanity generally ; and through this knowledge to be
made to acquire universal love and charity for his race,
high excellence in knowledge of the surroundings which
are in accordance with his divine nature, and how to
apply them most advantageousl}' to practice, and thus
to discover the necessity to abandon all cities, towns,
and isolated residences, as now constructed and in use
over the world, all forming compounds of inferior and
most injurious surroundings.

It is the greatest discovery, in short, because it will
elevate man from an irrational, inconsistent, fighting,
and contending animal, to a new existence, in which he
I will become a peaceful, consistent, rational, intellectual,
and happy being, occupied in promoting the happiness
of all that has life, to the extent practicable, and will
thus attain the highest permanent enjoyment of which
humanity is capable.

The following pages contain the history, step by step,
of the progress of the mission to prepare the population
of the world for this great and glorious change, which,
when accomplished, will yet more demonstrate the
knowledge, wisdom, and goodness of the Eternal Creat-
ing Power of the Universe, and that the best has been
and ever will be done for all created existences, that the
eternal elements of the universe will admit, through the
processes by which all created things attain maturity.

In other words, and to simplify the subject, the mission

xii PREFACE

of my life appears to be, to prepare the population of
the world to understand the vast importance of the
second creation of humanity, from the birth of each
individual, through the agency of man, by creating en-
tirely_jiew surroundings in which to place all through
ijfe^^and^y wnich a new human nature would^appearTo
arise frorfTthe new surroundmggr^

In taking a calmretrospect of my life from the earliest
remembered period of it to the present hour, there
appears to me to have been a succession of extraordinary
or out-of-the-usual-way events, forming connected links
of a chain, to compel me to proceed onward to complete
a mission, of which I have been an impelled agent, with-
out merit or demerit of any kind on my part.

That mission has been to point out to human^.y the
way to remove from it the cause of sin and misery, and
how in place thereof to attain for all of our race in per-
petuity a new existence of universal goodness, wisdom,
and happiness, and to withdraw from man all unkind-
ness to man and even to animal life over the earth, so
far as may be consistent with his own happy progress
while upon it.

This great and self-evident truth — " that the Creating
" Power gives all the qualities to the forms created," is
the knowledge required in man to harmonise the earth
and its varied products, and especially to harmonise
man to nature by consistent obedience to all her laws ;
and thus to unite mankind through future ages as one
man, with one language, feeling, interest, and object,
as is the evident ultimate destiny of our race. | By with-
drawing all responsibility from the created, and of course
all praise, blame, reward, and punishment, and by ac-
quiring a knowledge of the science of the influence of
surroundings upon humanity, and how to combine them
in order and with wisdom, man m.ay now be made a i

PREFACE xiii

terrestrial angel of goodness and wisdom, and to inhabit
a terrestrial paradise, l

The means to effect this change already amply exist,
and to their increase there can be no assignable limits.

These means have increased enormously since the
last century, and they are advancing in a continually
increasing ratio, without cause to fear that they ever
again cease to progress.

The means for universal human happiness are in-
exhaustible, and therefore all fear of overtasking them,
or that they will wear out, may be abandoned.

Consequently, by setting aside all ideas of making the
created responsible for the qualities given to it by the
power or powers creating it, and by teaching humanity
the S'/-rince of the influence of surroundings in principle
and practice, the earth will gradually be made a fit abode
for superior men and women, under a New Dispensation,
which will make the earth a paradise and its inhabitants
angels.

How easily now could this change be made, by a truly
holy alliance of the leading governments and church
authorities !

Or by the people, if they knew how to unite to be
governed by the laws of God and nature, instead of sub-
mitting to the ever-changing, wicked, and absurd arti-
ficial laws of men, made to endeavour to oppose those
divine laws.

ROBERT OWEN.

Sevenoaks Park, Sevenoaks,
September 1857.

THE LIFE OF ROBERT OWEN

'^:

THE

LIFE OF ROBERT OWEN

RECOLLECTIONS OF MY EARLY LIFE

As it appears in the family great Bible, I was born
in Newtown, Montgomeryshire, North Wales, on the
14th of May, 1771, and was baptized on the 12th of
June following.

My father was Robert Owen. He was born in Welsh
Pool, and was brought up to be a saddler, and probably
an ironmonger also, as these two trades were at that
period often united in the small towns on the borders
of Wales. He married into the family of Williams,
a numerous family, who were in my childhood among
the most respectable farmers around Newtown.

I think my mother (who was deemed beautiful, as I
was informed, when she was married) was the eldest
sister of the family, and, for her class, superior in mind
and manner.

I suppose that on their marriage they settled in New-
town,— my father taking up his own calling as a saddler
and ironmonger. He was also post-master as long as he
lived. He had the general management of the parish
affairs, being better acquainted, as it appears, with its
finances and business, than any other party in the
township. I never thought of inquiring of him for any
particulars respecting his father or mother, both being
dead before I was born ; and owing to the then very

2 THE LIFE OF

bad state of the roads there was comparatively little
communication for young persons between Newtown
and Welsh Pool. All that I can recollect respecting my
father's family is, hearing my father say, in a con-
versation with older members of the family, that he lost
an estate of the value of five hundred pounds a year
in a lawsuit, which he afterwards ascertained was lost
through his own lawyer being bribed. Newtown was at
this period a very small market town, not containing
more than one thousand inhabitants, — a neat, clean,
beautifully situated country village, rather than a town,
with the ordinary trades, but no manufactures except
a very few flannel looms. I have not seen it since this
clean village has been converted into a dirty but thriving
manufacturing town of some consequence.

At this period there was a bridge of wood over the
river Severn, which I remember with a deep impression,
having nearly lost my life upon it, as I will relate here-
after.

I was the youngest but one of a family of seven, —
two of whom died young. The survivors, — William,
Anne, and John, were older, and Richard was younger
than myself. The principal adjacent estate was New-
town Hall, at the period of my bh'th and for a few years
afterwards the property and residence of Sir John
Powell Price, Bart. ; — and my first recollection is of
Sir John opening a glass door which divided my father's
shop from the dwelling part of the house, and setting a
bird flying towards us, saying there was something for
the children's amusement, and they must take care of it.

This must have been shortly before he left his estate,
I suppose from being in debt, for it soon passed into
other hands. My next recollection is being in school in
apartments in the mansion of this estate, and a Mr.
Thickness, or some such name, was the schoolmaster.
I must have been sent young to school, — probably at
between four and five years of age, — for I cannot re-
member first going there. But I recollect being very
anxious to be first in school and first home, and the boys
had always a race from the school to the town, and, being

ROBERT OWEN 3

a fast runner, I was usually at home the first, and almost
always the first at school in the morning. On one
occasion my haste nearly cost me my life. I used to
have for breakfast a basin of flummery, — a food prepared
in Wales from flour, and eaten with milk, and which is
usually given to children as the Scotch use oatmeal
porridge. It is pleasant and nutritious, and is generally
liked by young persons. I requested that this breakfast
might be always ready when I returned from school, so
that I might eat it speedily, in order to be the first back
again to school. One morning, when about five years
old, I ran home as usual from school, found my basin of
flummery ready, and as I supposed sufficiently cooled
for eating, for no heat appeared to arise from it. It had
skinned over as when quite cold ; but on my hastily
taking a spoonful of it, I found it was quite scalding hot,
the body of it retaining all its heat. The consequence
was an instant fainting, from the stomach being scalded.
In that state I remained so long, that my parents thought
life was extinct. However, after a considerable period
I revived ; but from that day my stomach became in-
capable of digesting food, except the most simple and
in small quantity at a time. This made me attend to
the effects of different qualities of food on my changed
constitution, and gave me the habit of close observation
and of continual reflection ; and I have always thought
that this accident had a great influence in forming my
character.
\ In schools in these small towns it was considered a
good education if one could read fluently, write a legible
hand, and understand the four first rules of arithmetic.
And this I have reason to believe was the extent of Mr.
Thickness's qualification for a schoolmaster, — because
when I had acquired these small rudiments of learning,
at the age of seven, he applied to my father for per-
mission that I should become his assistant and usher, as
from that time I was called while I remained in school.
And thenceforward my schooling was to be repaid by
my ushership. As I remained at school about two years
longer, those two years were lost to me, except that I

4 THE LIFE OF

thus early acquired the habit of teaching others what I
knew, ,

But at this period I was fond of and had a strong
passion for reading everything which fell in my way.
As I was known to and knew every family in the town,
I had the libraries of the clergyman, physician, and
lawyer — the learned men of the town — thrown open to
me, with permission to take home any volume which I
liked, and I made full use of the liberty given to me.

Among the books which I selected at this period were
Robinson Crusoe, Philip Quarle, Pilgrim's Progress,
Paradise Lost, Harvey's Meditations among the Tombs,
Young's Night Thoughts, Richardson's, and all other
standard novels. I believed every word of them to be
true, and was therefore deeply interested ; and I gener-
ally finished a volume daily. Then I read Cook's and
all the circumnavigators' voyages, — The History of the
World, — RoUin's Ancient History, — and all the lives I
could meet with of the philosophers and great men.

At this period, probably when I was between eight and
nine years of age, three maiden ladies became intimate
in our family, and they were Methodists. They took a
great fancy to me, and gave me many of their books to
read. As I was religiously indined, they were very
desirous to convert me to their peculiar faith. I read
and studied the books they gave me with great attention ;
but as I read religious works of all parties, I became sur-
prised, first at the opposition between the different sects
of Christians, afterwards at the deadly hatred between
the Jews, Christians, Mahomedans, Hindoos, Chinese,
etc. etc., and between these and what they called Pagans
and Infidels. The study of these contending faiths,
and their deadly hatred to each other, began to create
doubts in my mind respecting the truth of any one of
these divisions. While studying and thinking with
great earnestness upon these subjects, I wrote three
sermons, and I was called the little parson. These ser-
mons I kept until I met with Sterne's works, in which 1
found among his sermons three so much like them in
idea and turn of mind, that it occurred to me as I read

ROBERT OWEN 5

them that I should be considered a plagiarist, and with-
out thought, as I could not bear any such suspicion, I
hastily threw them into the fire ; which I often after
regretted, as I should like to know now how I then
thought and expressed myself on such subjects.
> But certain it is that my reading religious works,
combined with my other readings, compelled me to feel
strongly at ten years of age that there must be something
fundamentally wrong in all religions, as they had been
taught up to that period. _

During my childiiood, and for many years afterwards,
it never occurred to me that there was anything in my
habits, thoughts, and actions different from those of
others of my age ; but when looking back and comparing
my life with many others, I have been induced to attri-
bute any favourable difference to the effects produced
at the early period when my life was endangered by the
spoonful of scalding flummery. Because from that time
I was compelled to notice the effects produced by different
kinds of food on my constitution, which had been also
deeply injured in its powers of digestion. I could not
eat and drink as others of my age, and I was thus com-
pelled to live in some respects the life of a hermit as
regards temperance. I entered, however, into the
amusements of those of my own standing, and followed
the games played by boys at that period in that part of
the country — such as marbles, hand and foot ball, etc. I
also attended the dancing school for some time, and in
all these games and exercises I excelled not only those of
my own age, but those two or three years older, and I
was so active that I was the best runner and leaper, both
as to height and distance, in the school. I attempted
also to learn music, and to play upon the clarionet, and
during my noviciate, as my father's house was in the
middle of the principal street, I fear I must have annoyed
all the neighbourhood, — for my " God Save the King"
and similar tunes were heard almost all over the town.
But I do not recollect that any formal complaint was
ever made. I was too much of a favourite with the
whole town for my benefit, and was often pitted against

6 THE LIFE OF

my equals, and sometimes against my superiors in age, —
sometimes for one thing and sometimes for another. I
have often reflected since how unjust such proceedings
are in principle, and how injurious in practice. One
instance of this made a deep impression on my mind.
Some party bet with another that I could write better
than my next eldest brother, John, who was two years
older ; and upon a formal trial, at which judges were
appointed, it was decided that my writing was the better,
although as far as I could then form an opinion I
thought my brother's was as good as my own. From
that day I do not think my brother had as strong an
affection for me as he had before this unwise competition.

I have said that such competitions are unjust, because,

as no two organizations are the same, there can be no

♦•just comparison between the competing efforts of any

two individuals, — while the successful one is thus taught

vanity, and the unsuccessful, jealousy and hatred.

When between six and eight years of age, I was often
a visitor at Parson Drake's, of the Rowe, who was the
rector or vicar of an adjoining parish — I think it was the
parish with the name of which I have often amused myself
with my English, Scotch, and other friends, by asking
them, when speaking of it, to pronounce it after my
spelling it, or to spell it after my pronunciation. This
puzzling name is spelled thus, Llanllwchaioin. Those
accustomed to it can easily pronounce it ; but not those
who are unacquainted with Welsh names and the mode
of spelling them.

This clergyman was a direct descendant of Admiral
Drake, and was very eccentric as a minister. He took
me to church with him on a Sunday after he had had a
difference with the squire of the parish, and to my sur-
prise and the astonishment of the congregation he gave a
most severe personal lecture to the squire during his
sermon, — so personal and severe, that before its con-
clusion the squire, who was present with his family,
became extremely uneasy in his very conspicuous pew,
and at length prepared to leave it, when Mr. Drake
stopped, and looking towards him, said, " Don't be in a

ROBERT OWEN 7

hurry, I shall have done soon and you had better sit
quiet." This scene made a deep impression upon me,
and never left my memory. About this period also a
young gentleman, a Mr. James Donne, who was studying
for the Church, either at Oxford or at Cambridge, came
upon a visit to Newtown during a vacation, and I be-
came his everyday companion. He was then about nine-
teen, and I was between eight and nine. The country
around Newtown is, I believe, generally considered to be
interesting and beautiful, and Mr. Donne and myself, while
he remained upon his visit, rambled about the woods
and lanes and higher grounds to examine the scenery
in all directions. These excursions with a man of his
cultivated taste and superior conversation awakened
in me a sense of pleasure which I ever afterwards ex-
perienced in observing nature in its every variety— a
pleasure which as I advanced in years continued and in-
creased. The friendship thus commenced, strengthened
with our years, and continued to the death of Mr. Donne,
who became well known and highly respected as Dr.
Donne of Oswestry. We had much correspondence, and
when I had aroused the thinking faculties of the civiHzed
world by the great public meetings which I held in the
City of London Tavern in 1817, I was surprised by re-
ceiving a letter from my much valued friend, Dr. Donne,
to inform me that he had taken a pleasant task upon
himself, which was to trace my pedigree, and had dis-
covered that I was a regular descendant from the Princes
of North Wales. Good man ! I have no doubt he thought
it was information that would gratify me, and that there-
fore he had taken all that trouble. But being at that
time occupied with great public questions and extensive
private business, I neglected this private affair, and
never made the least inquiry respecting it, and I am
afraid, owing to these circumstances, that I never made
any suitable acknowledgment for the kindness intended.
During the school holidays I was in the habit of visiting
my relations, who were farmers living at no great dis-
tance from Newtown. Among these I remember three.
Turners of Penarth, Goodwins of the Court, and Williams

8 THE LIFE OF

of Vaynor, but afterwards of Old Hall near Kerry, a
village three or four miles from Newtown. The two
first named were married to sisters of my mother, as I
now conjecture ; the third was brother to my mother,
and I believe her only brother living at that period. My
most frequent visits were to this family, in which was
an only child, a son named Richard after his father, and
one year younger than myself. We were always great
friends, much attached to each other and delighted to be
together.

My cousin had the finest natural qualities I have ever
seen in any youth, and he had received a superior edu-
cation for the time and for the locality in which his
father resided. He had been sent to a distant boarding-
school. Although a year younger, he was much my
superior in almost everything — for in whatever he
attempted he far excelled all of his age. And yet what
he did was done in a quiet manner without apparent
effort. He seemed to be unconscious of his own extra-
ordinary powers. The Williamses, as I have said, were
naturally a superior family of their class, and the mother
of my cousin was one of the best of women I ever saw
in her rank of life. Every one who knew her, loved her,
and every one liked to enjoy the hospitality of the family,
which was well known over the country to a considerable
distance. Our grandfather lived with them until he was
upwards of ninety, and one of my earliest recollections
is the sight of this old man sitting by the fire in his son's
house. My cousin and I read and thought much, and
yet we were both generally very active. But one very
hot day in hay-harvest time we felt ourselves, being over-
clothed, quite overcome with heat while we sauntered
from the house towards a large field where numerous
haymakers were actively at work. They appeared to
us, who had been doing nothing and yet were overcome
with heat, to be cool and comfortable. 1 said " Richard !
" how is this ? These active workpeople are not heated,
" but are pleasantly cool, and do not suffer as we do
" from the heat. There must be some secret in this.
" Let us try to find it out. Let us do exactly as they do,

ROBERT OWEN 9

" and work with them." He wilhngly agreed. I was,
I suppose, between nine and ten years of age, and he
was between eight and nine. We observed that all the
men were without their coats and waistcoats, and had
their shirts open. We adopted the same practice, —
procured the lightest rakes and forks — for both were
used occasionally, — and Richard and I, unburthened of
our heavy clothing, led the field for several hours, and
were cooler and less fatigued than when we were idle
and wasting our time. This became ever afterwards a
good experience and lesson to both ; for we found our- ^
selves much more comfortable with active employment
than when we were idle.

My cousin grew up the finest young man in the whole
country round — a lion in strength, active and courageous
far beyond all his fellows, excelling in everything which
he undertook, but yet quiet and unpretending, and be-
loved by all who knew him. It always occurred to me
that had he been lavourably placed in superior society,
he would have made a second and perhaps a superior
" Admirable Crichton." Being an only child, and such
a child, he was doated upon by his parents, and he was
at all times, instead of being spoiled by such affection,
a most obedient and attentive son to them. But a single
error of his father, who was obstinate in abiding by what
he deemed just, destroyed the high promise of this fine
human being. He fell in love, and deeply in love, with
a cousin of his mother's family, — in all ways his equal in
station and property, and also an only child. The fathers
of the two lovers could not agree regarding the fortune
to be given to each. Richard's father could give and
was willing to give his son a sum at that time considered
large to commence life with, and he wished the father of
the young lady to advance an equal sum, as he Ihouglil
he could well afford it. But the latter either could not
then, or would not agree to the terms proposed ; and
on this my cousin's father, anxious for his son's pecuni-
ary standing in society, refused his consent to the
marriage, except on the terms he thought just. Thus
was destroyed the permanent happiness of his son, who

10 THE LIFE OF

was too fond of his parents to act in opposition to their
wishes, and too high spirited to complain. A coohiess
arose between the families. Richard suffered more than
any one suspected. His feelmgs were strongly affected,
but the obstinacy of his father was immovable, having
once declared his determination. The son, who had
previously been an example of temperance, began to
change in this habit, — gradually became intemperate,
and died prematurely, a victim to the disappointment
of his affections ; another warning to parents not un-
reasonably to interfere with the settled affections of their
children. While the families were estranged, the young
lady married, and shortly afterwards she became heir
to a relative, who left her forty thousand pounds.
These particulars were given to me too late for inter-
ference, or, as I had influence with my uncle and aunt, I
might perhaps have given a very different result to these
unfortunate proceedings. There was a strong, early
imbibed affection between my cousin and myself, and
many years after, while I was directing Mr. Drinkwater's
establishment, I felt a great inclination to send for him
to take part in it ; for among his other qualifications he
had an extraordinary genius for rAechanical inventions,
and he would have made a splendid engineer. I was
withheld from following my inclination by the con-
sideration that he was an only son, the stay of his
parents, — that he was already in an independent position
through the property of those parents, and that their
separation might be painful to all the parties. When,
however, I had been informed of the previous proceedings,
I regretted that I had not induced my cousin to join me ;
as when I was twenty-four years of age, and he was
twenty-three, I could have given him the situation which
I held at five hundred a year. But it was not to be,
for the influence of circumstance prevented it.

But to return to my early life. I have narrated my
narrow escape from being killed by the scalding of my
stomach. Shortly before this event, I was doing some-
thing with the keyhole of a large door in a passage be-
tween my father's house and that of our next neighbour,

ROBERT OWEN ii

and by some means I got one of my fingers fast in the
keyhole, and in my attempt to get it out it was twisted
so painfully that I fainted, and I know not how it came
loose, for I was found in a swoon lying on the ground.

On another occasion my life was periled, and I again
escaped without knowing how. Newtown is situated on
the banks of the river Severn, over which at that time
there was a bridge that had been erected many years
before of wood. It admitted of a wagon way with a
narrow footpath on each side. My father had a favourite
cream-coloured mare, and her pasture fields were on the
side of this bridge opposite to where we lived. When
my father required this mare, as it was a favourite of
mine also, I frequently went for it to the field, and rode
it home, although a young horseman, for at this period
I was only six or seven years old. One day when re-
turning from the field mounted on this mare, I was
passing homeward over the bridge, but before I was half
over, a wagon had made some progress from the opposite
side. There was not room for me to pass without my
legs coming in contact with the wheels of this wagon or
with the rails of the bridge. I had not sense enough
to turn back, and endeavoured to pass the wagon. I
soon found that my leg was in danger of being grazed
by the wheels, and I threw it over the saddle, and in
consequence I fell on the opposite side, but in falling I
was so alarmed lest I should drop into the river or should
strike against the bridge, that I lost all recollection.
How I escaped I know not ; but on recovering I found
myself on the footpath of the bridge, the mare standing
quietly near me, and the wagon had fairly passed, and
I was unhurt. Since that occurrence I have always felt
a more especial liking for cream-coloured horses than
for any others.

Our next neighbours were two maiden ladies of the
name of Tilsley, and they kept a superior country shop
for the sale of drapery and haberdashery on one side,
and groceries on the other. One of these ladies changed
her situation by marrying a Mr. Moore, and as he en-
larged the business so as to add a wholesale branch to

12 THE LIFE OF

their former retail trade, they required more assistance,
and as I was active, it was supposed I could be useful to
them, and my services were borrowed, at first on market
and fair days ; and as I had then been two years in the
capacity of usher, learning nothing but how to teach,
Mr. Moore requested my father to permit me to be with
them every day in the week, instead of, as hitherto, on
their more busy days also ; and thus I was occupied
for one year, but living in my own family.

HavTng by this period read much of other countries
and other proceedings, and, with my habits of reflection
and extreme temperance, not liking the habits and
manners of a small country town, I began to desire a
different field of action, and wished my parents to permit
me to go to London. I was at this time about nine
years and a half old ; and at length, although I was a
great favourite at home, it was promised that when I
should attain my tenth year I should be allowed to go.
This promise satisfied me in the meantime, and I con-
tinued to gain knowledge of the business in which I was
occupied — continuing also to read and to take lessons
in dancing,

During the period I remained giving this friendly
assistance to Mr. Moore, a ludicrous circumstance oc-
curred, wiiich left an impression which vividly remains.
The parents of one of my schoolfellows, who was about
my own age, kept a grocer's shop in the town. Their
stock of molasses, an article then much in demand, was
exhausted, and as Mr. Moore kept a wholesale supply of
it, my schoolfellow, whose name was John Stanley, came
with a tub with two upright handles to purchase as
much as the tub would hold. The wholesale stock was
kept in a cellar below the shop, and the entrance to this
cellar was through a trap-door in the centre of the shop
floor, and down the steps of a ladder. John had filled
the tub quite full and was bringing it up the ladder on
his head, and on reaching the level of the floor, one oi
the handles of the tub came in contact with part of the
floor, and the tub was upset, the molasses running over
his head, which was uncovered, except with very thick

ROBERT OWEN 13

hair. The molasses ran down over the whole of his
clothes and person, making him one of the most laugh-
able and at the same time pitiable figures that the
imagination could paint. How he got rid of the nuisance
when he arrived at home must be conjectured — but the
disaster was always remembered to his annoyance by
our neighbours as long as I remained in Newtown.

I mentioned that I continued to take lessons in dancing,
of which I was fond, until my departure from home. It
was at these lessons that I first became conscious of the
natural sympathies and dislikes or jealousies of children.
I was esteemed the best dancer of my class, and at this
period I was in the first class. The contest for partners
among the girls was often amusing, but sometimes really
distressing. The feelings of some of them if they could
not obtain the partners they liked were so overpowering,
that it was afflicting to see how much they suffered. I
have long thought that the mind and feelings of young
children are seldom duly considered or attended to, and
that if adults would patiently encourage them to express
candidly what they thought and felt, much suffering
would be saved to the children, and much useful know-'*
ledge of human nature would be gained by the adults.
I am now conscious there was much real suffering in that
dancing-room, which, had there been more knowledge of
human nature in the dancing-master and in the parents
of the children, might have been avoided.

The time had now drawn near for my departure from
my parental roof, and for me to undertake a journey
which in the then state of the roads was thought formid-
able for grown persons. From Shrewsbury I was to
travel alone to London, inexperienced as I then was.
At that time I knew and was known to every man,
woman, and child in the town, and I called upon them
and took my leave of every one ; and I received many a
keepsake, and from the more wealthy, presents of
money. I deemed myself, at ten years of age, amply
provided to seek my fortune with forty shillings — the
expenses of my coach hire being paid for me. I may
remark here that for two years or perhaps more before

14 THE LIFE OF

I left home, my parents used to consult me when any
matter of importance was to be decided, but I did not
know why they asked my opinion, and was unconscious
that I could give any useful advice.

Before proceeding to narrate my journey I may state,
that I was never but once corrected by my parents.
This correction took place under the following circum-
stances, and when I was, I think, scarcely seven years
old. I was always desirous to meet the wishes of both
my parents, and never refused to do whatever they asked
me to do. One day my mother indistinctly said some-
thing to me to which I supposed the proper answer was
'no,' — and in my usual way I said 'no,' — supposing
I was meeting her wishes. Not understanding me, and
supposing that I refused her request, she immediately,
and to me rather sharply — for her custom was to speak
kindly to me — said, " What ! Won't you ? " Having
said, ' no,' I thought if I said ' yes, I will,' I should be
contradicting myself, and should be expressing a false-
hood, and I said again ' no,' but without any idea of
disobeying her. If she had then patiently and calmly
inquired what my thoughts and^feelings were, a proper
understanding would have arisen, and everything would
have proceeded as usual. But my mother, not compre-
hending my thoughts and feelings, spoke still more sharply
and angrily, — for I had never previously disobeyed her,
and she was no doubt greatly surprised and annoyed when
I repeated that I would not. My mother never chastised
any of us, — this was left for my father to do, and my
brothers and sisters occasionally felt a whip which was
kept to maintain order among the children, but I had
never previously been touched with it. My father was
called in, and my refusal stated. I was again asked if
I would do what my mother required, and I said firmly
' no,' and I then felt the whip every time after I refused
when asked if I would yield and do what was required.
I said ' no,' every time I was so asked, and at length
said quietly but firmly — " you may kill me, but I will
not do it " — and this decided the contest. There was
no attempt ever afterwards to correct me ; but this

ROBERT OWEN 15

difference was soon made up on both sides, and I con-
tinued to be the favourite I had always been.

From my own feelings, which I well remember when
a child, I am convinced that very often punishment is '^
not only useless, but very pernicious, and injurious to
the punisher and punished.

Though alone in going to London, I was not to be
alone when I arrived there. My eldest brother, William,
had been brought up by my father to his own business,
and when out of his apprenticeship, and after he had
subsequently worked some years with my father, he
decided to go to London, when he was between twenty
and thirty, and he there obtained a situation with a
Mr. Reynolds, a saddler, who then lived at No. 84 High
Holborn. To him I was consigned, for by this time
Mr. Reynolds had died, and my brother had taken the
business and had married the widow.

LEAVING HOME

My father took me to Welsh Pool, and thence I went to
take coach for London at Shrewsbury, which was then
the nearest place to Newtown to which there was any
public conveyance to go to London. The coach left
Shrewsbury at night, and an outside place had been
taken for me, with the expectation that I might travel
inside during the night. The proprietor, who knew my
family, was going to put me inside, when some ill-
tempered man, who had discovered that I had paid only
for an outside place, refused to allow me to enter. It
was dark, and I could not see the objector nor discover
how crowded the coach might be ; — for coaches then
carried six inside. I was glad afterwards that I did not
know who this man was ; and I never discovered him,
and therefore I could not be angry with him, as I should
have been, for refusing admission to a child. I then
had not fully learned the principles of the formation of
character and the influences of circumstances over all
that have life, or I should not have been angry or

1 6 THE LIFE OF

surprised at such conduct. I arrived safely in London
and was heartily welcomed by my brother, who was
always partial to me, and his wife received me very
kindly.

My father had written respecting me to his friend, a
Mr. Heptinstall, of No. 6 Ludgate Hill, who was a large
dealer in lace, foreign and British ; and Mr. Moore had
written in my favour to Mr. Tilsley, of No. loo Newgate
Street, who then kept what was deemed a large draper's
shop. This was in 1781. I think I had been on this
visit to my brother nearly six weeks, when Mr. Heptinstall
procured me a situation with a Mr. James McGuffog,
of whom he spoke highly as carrying on a large business
for a provincial town, in Stamford, Lincolnshire. The
terms offered to me were for three years — the first without
pay, the second with a salary of eight pounds, and the
third with ten pounds, and with board, lodging, and
washing in the house. These terms I accepted, and
being well found with clothes to serve me more than a
year, I from that period, ten years of age, maintained
myself without ever applpng to my parents for any
additional aid.

MY RESIDENCE WITH MR. McGUFFOG

I LEFT my brother's house in London, and arrived at
Stamford, where I found Mr. McGuffog's establishment
all that was stated, and his house respectable and com-
fortable. This was a most fortunate introduction for
me into active life. Mr. James McGuffog was a Scotch-
man, thoroughly honest, and a good man of business, —
very methodical, kind, and liberal, and much respected
by his neighbours and customers, and also,- for his
punctuality and good sense, by those from whom he
purchased his goods for sale ; and I was fortunate in ob-
taining such a man for my first master. He told me that
he had commenced life in Scotland with half a crown,
laid it out in the purchase of some things for sale, and
hawked them in a basket. That by degrees he changed

ROBERT OWEN 17

his basket for a pack, with which he travelled the
country, acquiring knowledge through experience, and
increasing his stock until he got, first a horse, and then
a horse and covered van. He made his regular rounds
among customers of the first respectability in Lincoln-
shire and the adjoining counties, until he was requested
by the nobility and principal families and farmers around
Stamford, to open an establishment there for the sale
of the best and finest articles of female wear, for which,
for some time in his travelling capacity, he had become
celebrated. When I came to his house he had been some
years established in it, and was beginning to be so in-
dependent that he made all his purchases with ready
money and was becoming wealthy. He had married a
daughter of a well-doing, middle-class person, and they
appeared to live on very good terms with each other,
and both were industrious, always attending to their
business, yet respectable at all times in their persons,
and altogether superior as retail tradespeople, being
quite the aristocracy of that class, without its usual
weak vanities. They had at this time an assistant of
the name of Sloane, about thirty-five years of age, a
bachelor ; and also a youth about my own age, nephew
to McGuffog.

Here I was at once installed as a member of the
family, and during my stay with them I was treated
more like their own child than as a stranger come from
afar. I was by Mr. McGuffog carefully initiated into
the routine of the business, and instructed in its detail,
so as to accustom me to great order and accuracy. The
business was carried on under a well-considered system,
which in its results was very successful. I suppose I
was considered industrious and attentive to my in-
structions, for I was seldom found fault with or un-
pleasantly spoken to by either Mr. or Mrs. McGuffog —
the latter often attending to the business.

The articles dealt in were of the best, finest, and most
choice qualities that could be procured from all the
markets of the world ; for many of the customers of
the establishment were among the highest nobility in

i8 THE LIFE OF

the kingdom, and often six or seven carriages belonging
to them were at the same time in attendance at the
premises. Mr. McGuffog's shop had become a kind of
general rendezvous of the higher-class nobility. Among
the frequenters of the house as customers were the
families of Burleigh, Westmoreland, Lowther, Ancaster,
Browton, Noel, Trollope, and many whose names I have
forgotten. I had thus an opportunity of noticing the
manners of these parties, and of studying their characters
when they were under the least restraint. I thus also
became familiar with the finest fabrics of a great variety
of manufactures, many of which required great delicacy
in handling and care in keeping from being injured.
These circumstances, trivial as they may appear, were
of essential service to me in after life, when I became a
manufacturer and commercial man upon a large scale ;
for they prepared me in some measure for the future
intercourse I had with what is called the great world.

Mr. McGuffog was much respected by these parties for
his honesty and plain dealmg, and was the country
banker for the then Sir William Lowther, afterwards
the late Earl of Lonsdale, and'who, with Lady Augusta
Lowther and family, were among the most constant
frequenters of the establishment. After I left Stamford
I learned from Mr. McGuffog that Sir William had made
him a present of one of his favourite hunters, and that
Mr. McGuffog, after retiring from business, often hunted
with Sir William's hounds ; and he remained a favourite
with every one to his death.

r Mr. McGuffog had a well-selected library, which I
freely used ; for our chief business was from ten in the
morning to four in the afternoon, and while I remained
in Stamford I read upon the average about five hours a
day..'

One of the entrances to Burleigh Park was near the
town ; and in summer, and as long as the weather per-
mitted, my chief pleasure was to go early into the park
to walk, read, think, and study, in those noble avenue ^
which were then numerous in it. Very often in the
midst of summer I was thus in the park from between

R0J3ERT OWEN

19

I three and four in the morning until eight, and again in

the evening from six or seven until nearly dark. I had

transcribed many of Seneca's moral precepts into a book

which I kept in my pocket ; to ponder over them in the

park was one of my pleasurable occupations ; and in

this park, which I made my study, I read many volumes

; of the most useful works I could obtain. At the early

I hour mentioned the only one I used to see taking his

! first walk for the day was the Earl of Exeter, the uncle,

I I believe, of his successor who married the miller's

daughter, the subject of Tennyson's exquisite poem, and

who was the father of the present Marquis.

This old earl's habits were peculiar. He never
allowed himself to sleep a second time in one night.
At whatever hour he awoke, winter and summer, he
rose, and in bad weather he went to his study, and walked
when it was fine, and at four o'clock in the morning I
have often seen him at his early exercise. He was also
so punctual in his habits that he had the first dish of his
dinner passing between the kitchen and dining-room as
the first stroke of the clock struck three, and he never
waited for any one who was absent or who had not
arrived at his time. But he was much respected and
liked by all about him. I often recur to the recollection
of the many happy, healthy hours I enjoyed in that
park — healthy both to body and mind. Frequently in
the morning I hailed the rising sun, and in the evening
watched its setting and the rising of the moon.

In the second year of my apprenticeship our circle
was increased in the house by the addition of a sister
and a niece of Mrs. McGuffog's — the first about nineteen,
and the second about ten years old, and our pleasure
was increased ; for there was a mutual good feeling among
all the members of the family, except that the old
bachelor, David Sloane, was the least satisfied with him-
self and others, and seemed jealous of the general kind-
ness shown to me by all the members of the family, and
of the preference to be served by me shown by many of
the regular customers when they could make a choice
between us. He was penurious in his habits and some-

20 THE LIFE OF

what more selfish than is suitable for creating friends.
A ludicrous instance occurred to make these failings,
which he could not avoid, somewhat conspicuous. He
slept-^in a room adjoining'the wholesale aepartment, and
occasionally, when it was full and over-stocked, some of
the surplus was occasionally put into his room, and at
the time of the event narrated, some fine and expensive
articles happened to be placed on a table in his room.
He was very careful of his clothes, and took pleasure in
preserving their new appearance as long as practicable.
He had just bought a new pair of breeches, — for panta-
loons had not then been introduced, — and in going to
bed he put them on the table where these goods were
placed. On going into bed he had put out his light in
such a manner that the sparks or snuffing of the candle
had fallen unperceived by him among these goods, and
near to his own new purchase. He fell asleep, and some
of the articles upon the table were burnt, and among
them David's new purchase, except some of the buttons
and some fragments. The smell of fire soon aroused
Mr. and Mrs. McGuffog, who immediately raised the
alarm, and all hastily arose in tljeir night-clothes. The
smoke was discovered to issue from David's room, and
on bursting open the door, David, who was asleep,
hastily awoke. The burning articles upon the table
disclosed the cause of alarm, and water was immediately
procured and the fire soon put out. When the danger
was over, all the parties began to look at each other, —
but David was the conspicuous figure. In his night-
shirt and coloured night-cap he stood by the table,looking
most woefully, and taking up fragment after fragment
of his burnt clothing, — regardless of the danger which
he had created, and of the loss sustained by Mr. McGuffog
through the goods which were burnt or spoiled \\dth the
water, — he ejaculated, as he held up each piece or
button, "Oh, my new breeches ! — Oh, my new breeches ! "
and this for some time was all that could be obtained
from him when questioned as to the origin of the fire,
until at length the scene became so farcical and ludicrous
that no one could avoid laughing at him, and he was left,

ROBERT OWEN 21

looking most miserable, to his own reflections until the
morning. But, poor fellow, " Oh, my new breeches ! "
was never afterwards forgotten, andit was a joke which at
length none but those who desired to torment him would
recall to his remembrance. Many years afterwards,
when we were both advanced in life, I met him in Man-
chester, when, with great agitation taking me cordially
by the hand, he said with extraordinary earnestness, —
' Will you forgive me the mjuries I have formerly done
' you ? " I said, " I do not know of any injury I ever
' experienced from you, and therefore I have nothing to
' forgive." " Yes," he said, " you have, and it has often
' made me very unhappy, — and do say you forgive me."
' Whatever it may be, I know nothing of it, — but if it
' can be of any satisfaction to you, I forgive yoa with
' all my heart, without wishing to know in what way you
' suppose the injury was done to me." The poor fellow
seemed quite relieved from a burden upon his mind,
and left me with a gratified countenance, again shaking
me cordially by the hand.

Mr. McGuffog was of the Church of Scotland, Mrs.
McGuffog of the Church of England, and they agreed to
go in the morning to the service of the one, and in the
afternoon to that of the other, and they always took me
with them. I listened to the contending sermons, for
they were often, and indeed most generally, either in
reference to their own sectarian notions, or in opposition
to some of the opposing sects. But during the four years
I remained with Mr. and Mrs. McGuffog, I never knew a
religious difference between them.

I was all this time endeavouring to find out the true
religion, and was greatly puzzled for some time by finding
all of every sect over the world, of which I read or of which
I heard from the pulpits, claim each for themselves to
be in possession of the true religion. I studied and studied
and carefully compared one with another, for I was very
religiously inclined, and desired most anxiously to be in
the right way. But the more I heard, read, and reflected,
the more I became dissatisfied with Christian, Jew,
Mahomedan, Hindoo, Chinese and Pagan. I began

22 THE LIFE OF

seriously to study the foundation of all of them, and to
ascertain on what principle they were based. Before
my investigations were concluded, I was satisfied that
one and all had emanated from the same source, and their
varieties from the same false imaginations of our early
ancestors ; imaginations formed when men were ignorant
of their own nature, were devoid of experience, and were
governed by their random conjectures, which were almost
always, at first, like their notions of the fixedness of the
earth, far from the truth. It was with the greatest re-
luctance, and after long contests in my mind, that I was
compelled to abandon my first and deep-rooted im-
pressions in favour of Christianity, — but being obliged
to give up my faith in this sect, I was at the same time
compelled to reject all others, for I had discovered that
all had been based on the same absurd imagination,
"that each one formed his own qualities, — determined
" his own thoughts, will, and action, — and was re-
" sponsible for them to God and to his fellow-men."
My own reflections compelled me to come to very
different conclusions. My reason taught me that I
could not have made one of my own qualities, — that they
were forced upon me by Nature ; — that my language,
religion, and habits, were forced upon me by Society ;
and that I was entirely the child of Nature and Society ;
— that Nature gave the qualities, and Society directed
them. Thus was I forced, through seeing the error of
their foundation, to abandon all belief in every religion
which had been taught to man. But my religious feelings
were immediately replaced by the spirit of universal
charity, — not for a sect or a party, or for a country or a
colour, — but for the human race, and with a real and
ardent desire to do them good.

Before, however, I had advanced so far in knowledge,
while I was yet a Christian, and was impressed with the
sacredness of the Christian Sabbath, it seemed to me that
in Stamford it was much disregarded, — and it came into
my head, at the age of twelve or thirteen, to write upon
the subject to Mr. Pitt, who was then Prime Minister.
In my letter to him I stated the desecration which was

ROBERT OWEN 23

going forward in Stamford, and expressed a hope that
Government would adopt some measures to enforce a
better observance of the Sabbath. I had been some-
time writing this letter, and after I had sent it through
the post office Mr. and Mrs. McGuffog asked me what I
had been so interested about. I said, " I have been
writing a letter to Mr. Pitt." "To Mr. Pitt!" they
exclaimed with some astonishment — " What could you
" have to say to Mr. Pitt ? " I said it was about the
'Sabbath being so shamefully employed as it was by
many in Stamford, some of whom even kept their shops
open on that day. They looked at each other and
smiled ; — but at that time I thought there was nothing
extraordinary in it. In about eight or ten days after-
wards, Mr. McGuffog brought a London newspaper, and
said to me, — " Here is an answer to your letter to Mr.
" Pitt." I expected no answer, and was taken by
surprise, and blushed very much. I asked what was the
answer — he said it was, " a long proclamation from the
" Government, recommending all parties to keep the
'■' Sabbath more strictly." I was of course quite gratified,
having no doubt my letter had produced that result ;
when, no doubt, such a letter as I could then have written
would be opened and put into the waste-paper basket,
and would never be heard of by Mr, Pitt. My letter
going at that period must have been a mere coincidence ;
for the proclamation, as far as I can recollect, was a
formal, well-considered document of the Government,
and probably had been determined upon before my letter
was in the post office. It, however, pleased me at the
time, and amazed Mr. and Mrs. McGuffog.

After my three years had expired, Mr. McGuffog
wished me to remain with him, and to continue as an
assistant for a year longer. During this period I had
acquired as much knowledge of the business in which I
was engaged as the situation afforded, and although I
had lived most happily in this family, and could have
remained as long as I liked, my wishes were for the
attainment of more knowledge and an enlarged field of
action. I therefore reluctantly, on account of the kind-

24 THE LTFE OF

ness I had uniformly experienced from Mr. and Mrs.
McGuifog and their relatives, expressed my desire to
return to London. Very friendly offers were made to
detain me ; but my determination was fixed, and with
strong recommendations from Mr. McGuffog, I returned
to my brother's house in London, now between fourteen
- and fifteen years of age. While I remained in Stamford,
I never saw any one whom I had previously known ; —
but one day, as I was passing the George Inn, the prin-
cipal hotel in the place, I saw a person at the entrance
talking to a gentleman, and who was so like my father,
that I concluded it must be he, and while the con-
versation continued I walked past them and returned
several times, being more and more convinced it must be
my father. At length the conversation terminated, and
I then came very near to my supjDosed father, so as to
catch his eye and draw his attention to me, but there was
no sign of recognition on his part, and it was only from
that. circumstance that I discovered my mistake, for the
likeness still appeared to me perfect. My disappoint-
ment may be easily imagined.

Having been so long absent from my relations and
friends, I was glad to spend some months with my
brother William, for there was always a strong attach-
ment between us; and I spent some time in seeing
the sights of London, and becoming acquainted with
its principal localities, walking in the parks, and parti-
cularly in Kensington Gardens on fine Sundays with
my brother and his wife.

It was at this period I visited my parents and relatives
in Wales. I spent some time with my family in New-
town, and with my relatives in the neighbourhood.
I was uncommonly well received by all parties, and spent
some time with my cousin and former companion,
Richard Williams, who was then living at his father's
new purchase of Old Hall, near Kerry, Montgomeryshire.
I also visited my sister in Radnorshire, who had married
Mr. Davis. My stay in Wales was but for a short
period, for I was anxious to be again in business, and
my funds required my expenses to be limited. 1

ROBERT OWEN 25

therefore returned to my brother's house in London, and
only once afterwards to the present time have visited
Newtown. But I feel a great desire now to see it in its
very altered state from what it was when I first left it,
and I hope to see it during the next summer should my
health permit.

After some time of this relaxation from business it
was necessary for me to seek for a new situation, and
through Mr. McGuffog's recommendation I procured
one with Messrs. Flint and Palmer, an old-established
house on old London Bridge, Boroughside, overlooking
the Thames. It was a house established, and I believe
the first, to sell at a small profit for ready money only.
The house was already wealthy, making all their pur-
chases with money, and continuing very successful.
The house was originally established by Mr. Flint, who
made what was then deemed a large fortune for a retail
trade, and he had an only daughter, who was married to
Mr. Palmer, a very respectable and gentlemanly person
for his position, and an honest and practical man of
business. When Mr. Flint died, the establishment and
the large capital were left to the widow and the son-in-
law and daughter. Mr. Palmer had two younger
brothers now in the business, — the youngest of them
about my age. There were a considerable number of
both sexes, and some of advanced age, old assistants, at
this time employed to attend to different departments
in the business. My previous habits prepared me to
take an efficient part in the retail division of the business
of serving. I was lodged and boarded in the house, and
had a salary of twenty-five pounds a year, and I thought
myself rich and independent, for I had more than
sufficient to supply all my personal wants.. Soon, how-
ever, as the spring advanced, I found this was a different
situation to the one I had enjoyed at Stamford. The
customers were of an inferior class, — they were treated
differently. Not much time was allowed for bargaining,
a price being fixed for everything, and, compared with
other houses, cheap. If any demur was made, or much
hesitation, the article asked for \yas withdrawn, and, as

26 THE LIFE OF

the shop was generally full from morning till late in the
evening, another customer was attended to.

The habits of this very independent establishment
being generally known, the article asked for was pre-
sented, taken at once, and paid for, all with great dis-
patch, and a large business was thus daily transacted.
The favour appeared to be more to the purchaser than
to the seller of the articles. But to the assistants in this
busy establishment the duties were very onerous. They
were up and had breakfasted and were dressed to receive
customers in the shop at eight o'clock; — and dressing
then was no slight affair. Boy as I was then, I had to
wait my turn for the hairdresser to powder and pomatum
and curl my hair, for I had two large curls on each side,
and a stiff pigtail, and until all this was very nicely and
systematically done, no one could think of appearing
before a customer. Between eight and nine the shop
began to fill with purchasers, and their number increased
until it was crowded to excess, although a large apart-
ment, and this continued until late in the evening ;
usually until ten, or half-past ten, during all the spring
months. Dinner and tea were hastily taken, — two or
three, sometimes only one, escaping at a time to take
what he or she could the most easily swallow, and re-
turning to take the places of others who were serving.
The only regular meals at this season were our break-
fasts, except on Sundays, on which days a good dinner
was always provided, and was much enjoyed. But
when the purchasers left at ten or half-past ten, before
the shop could be quite clear a new part of the business
was to be commenced. The articles dealt in as haber-
dashery were innumerable, and these when exposed to
the customers were tossed and tumbled and unfolded
in the utmos't confusion and disorder, and there was no
time or space to put anything right and in order during
the day. This was a work to be performed with closed
doors after the customers had been shut out at eleven
o'clock ; and it was often two o'clock in the morning
before the goods in the shop had been put in order and re-
placed to be ready for the next day's similar proceedings.

ROBERT OWEN 27

Frequently at two o'clock in the morning, after being
actively engaged on foot all day from eight o'clock in
the morning, I have scarcely been able with the aid of
the banisters to go upstairs to bed. And then I had
about five hours for sleep.

This hurried work and slavery of every day in the week
appeared to me more than my constitution could sup-
port for a continuance, and before the spring trade had
terminated I had applied to my friend to look out for
another situation for me. The spring trade ceasei, and
the business gradually became less onerous. We could
take our meals with some comfort, and retire to rest
between eleven and twelve, and by comparison this be-
came an easy life. I was kindly treated. The youngest
Palmer, a good and fine youth, took a great liking to me,
and we became great friends, and spent our Sundays in
some excursion always together, and as the less busy
season advanced we began to enjoy our leisure hours in
out-of-door exercise or in reading. His habits were
good and his manners very pleasing. With this change
I was becoming every day more and more reconciled to
this new mode of life. I was beginning to enjoy it,
having forgotten that I had requested my friend to look
out for another situation, when, really to my regret, I
learned from my brother that my former friend, Mr.
Heptinstall, of No. 8 Ludgate Hill, had obtained the
offer of a very good situation for me, from a Mr. Satter-
field, who carried on a wholesale and retail estabUshment
in Manchester ; — that it was a first-rate house, and that
he offered me, beside board, lodging, and washing, in
his house, forty pounds a year. This was too great a
temptation, too large an offer, to be declined, and es-
pecially as my friend, deeming it for my interest, had
given Mr. Satterfield reason to expect that I would
accept it. I then reluctantly had to give due notice to
Mr. Palmer that I must leave him, and we parted with
I believe mutual regret, for I felt very unwilling to
separate myself from my yoimg friend, William Palmer,
who closely associated himself with me in all our leisure
hours.

28 THE LIFE OF

In this situation I was obliged to acquire habits of
quickness in business, and of great industry, long con-
tinued day after day without ceasing. I also acquired
the knowledge of the character of another class of society,
totally different from the Stamford customers of Mr.
McGuffog, and another mode of carrying on business.
Mr. McGuffog's was one of system and great order. No
confusion at any time, even when the most busy ; for
the rule of his house was, never to bring on the counter
a second article until the first was returned and neatly
put in its proper place. Thus when the customers were
gone there was little to do, for everything was in order.

It just occurs to me here, that I have not named one
remarkable trait in Mr. McGuffog's character, which was,
that he would have a reasonable profit upon what he
sold, and would never take advantage of the ignorance
or inexperience of any one. An instance of this stubborn
honesty occurred while I was with him, which instructed
me in the waywardness of human nature, and at the time
amused me. One of the rich Lincolnshire farmers, and
many of them were wealthy at this period, died, and left
his widow and family more wealth than they knew how
advantageously to spend The widow, shortly after
she became so, was desirous of buying at Mr. McGuffog's
establishment a piece of the finest Irish linen for chemises
that he had for sale. Now Mr. McGuffog was in the
habit of buying the finest articles of every description
that he could meet with, going frequently to London to
make these purchases to supply his regular customers
among the high nobility ; and he had at this time the
finest Irish linens that could be manufactured — then an
expensive article. In conformity with this new widow's
request, Mr. McGuffog brought her one of the finest pieces
that he had purchased, and the finest that could be then
made by any manufacturer. The price was eight shillings
the yard, allowing him his usual moderate profit. The
lady looked and looked again at this fabric, and said,
"Have you no finer than this piece, which is not fine
" enough for my purpose? " Mr. McGuffog was much
surprised at this speech, foj- he knew it was fine enough

ROBERT OWEN 29

to satisfy the wants of the first duchess in the land.
But with his usual knowledge of character, he said —
" Upon recollection I may have in my upper warehouse
" a finer piece — I will go and see." He went, and
brought the fellow piece to the one he had previously
shown at eight shillings, and he said, " I have found one,
" but the price is ten shillings per yard, and is perhaps
" higher in price than you would wish to give." The
widow examined this new piece, and said no, it was not
too high in price, and was the very fabric she wished for.
Mr. McGuffog smiled within himself when he discovered,
as he suspected, that the fabric was in this instance
valued by its cost, and not for its intrinsic worth, as he
knew was often the case. But, as I said, he never would
take advantage of the ignorance or want of experience
in rich or poor, and in making out the bill he charged
this so-called ten-shillings-a-yard piece at the rate of
eight shilhngs only, saying he would not charge her more,
because at that price it afforded him a fair profit. The
widow said nothing, but never again was a customer.
So much for honest dealing in a tradesman.

To return to my narrative. On leaving Messrs.
Flint and Palmer's, I went to reside with Mr. Satterfield
in Manchester. His establishment was then the first in
his hne in the retail department, but not much to boast
of as a wholesale warehouse. It was upon the whole
pretty well managed. Mr. Satterfield was an indifferent
buyer of goods for his trade, but an excellent salesman.
Mr. McGuffog was an extremely good buyer, and when
goods are well and judiciously purchased for a local
trade, they almost sell themselves, and give little trouble
to the seller ; while if they are not bought with judgment,
the trouble of sale is greatly increased. The good buyer
also is almost sure to gain success to his business ; — while
indifferent buyers scarcely ever succeed in accunmlating
independence. Hence Mr. McGuffog retired from busi-
ness with what, in those days, was considered a good
fortune for a retail tradesman, leaving his widow upwards
of one thousand a year, besides other gifts ; while Mr.
Satterfield, with a larger business, and with great toil

30 THE LIFE OF

and labour, and much anxiety, could only during his
life clear his way, unable to purchase except on credit.
His son, I understood, who succeeded to his business,
was more fortunate. Here also, however, I was very
comfortable, and gained new experience in another class
in society. Mr. Satterfield's customers were generally
of the upper middle-class — the well-to-do manufacturers'
and merchants' wives and families — a class intermediate
between Mr. McGuffog's and Messrs. FHnt and Palmer's,
— and I thus became acquainted M'ith the ideas and habits
of this class.

Our living was good, our treatment kind, and the young
persons assistants in the business were generally from
respectable families and well behaved, and none were
over-taxed with occupation in their respective depart-
ments. I therefore soon became reconciled to the
change which my friend had made for me, and with
forty pounds a year, over my board, lodging, and wash-
ing, I deemed myself overflowing with wealth, having
more than my temperate habits required, for I had never
accustomed myself to strong liquors of any kind, and
my eating was always moderate and of the most simple
and easily digested quality. I thus continued until I
was eighteen years of age. Among other articles which
we sold were wires for the foundation or frame of ladies'
bonnets. The manufacturer of these wire bonnet-frames
was a mechanic with some small inventive powers and
a very active mind. When he brought his weekly
supply of wire frames, I had to receive them from him,
and he began to tell me about great and extraordinary
discoveries that were beginning to be introduced into
Manchester for spinning cotton by new and curious
machinery. He said he was endeavouring to see and
to get a knowledge of them, and that if he could succeed
he could make a very good business of it. This kind
of conversation was frequently renewed by the wire
manufacturer, whose name was Jones. At length he
told me he had succeeded in seeing these machines at
work, and he was sure he could make them and work
them. He had, however, no capital, and he could not

ROBERT OWEN 31

begin without some. He said that with one hundred
pounds he could commence and soon accumulate capital
sufficient to proceed ; and he ended by saying that if I
would advance one hundred pounds, I should have one ^
half of the great profits that were to result if I would
join him in partnership. He made me believe that he
had obtained a great secret, and that if assisted as he
stated, he could soon make a good business. I wrote to
my brother William in London, to ask him if he could
conveniently advance me the sum required, and he im-
mediately sent me the hundred pounds. I had now to
give notice to Mr. Satterfield according to our engage-
ment, and that because I was going into a new business
for myself. He was, I believe, disappointed, for I had
by this time become a useful and steady assistant, and a
favourite server with his principal customers. During
the time between my giving notice and finally leaving
Mr. Satterfield's establishment, Jones and I had agreed
with a builder that he should erect and let to us a large
machine workshop, with rooms also for some cotton
spinners, and the building was finished by the time I left
Mr. Satterfield. We had shortly about forty men at
work to make machines, and we obtained wood, iron,
and brass, for their construction, upon credit.

I soon found however that Jones was a mere working
mechanic, without any idea how to manage workmen,
or how to conduct business on the scale on which he had
commenced.

I had notthe shghtest knowledgeof this new machinery
— had never seen it at work. I was totally ignorant of
what was required ; but as there were so many men
engaged to work for us, I knew that their wages must be
paid, and that if they were not well looked after, our
business must soon cease and end in our ruin. Jones
knew little about book-keeping, finance matters, or the
superintendence of men. I therefore undertook to keep
the accounts — pay and receive all ; and I was the first
and last in the manufactory. I looked very wisely at
the men in their different departments, although I really
knew nothing. But by intensely observing everything,

32 THE LIFE OF

I maintained order and regularity throughout the estab-
lishment, which proceeded under such circumstances
far better than I had anticipated. We made what are
technically called " mules " for spinning cotton, sold
them, and appeared to be carrying on a good business ;
while, having discovered the want of business capacity
in my partner, I proceeded with fear and trembling, i

We had not been in business many months, when a
capitalist with moderate means, thinking the prospects
of the establishment very good, applied to Jones to be
allowed to join him with increased means, on the sup-
position that Jones was the efficient man of business,
and that if I could be induced to leave it, he (the appli-
cant, whose name I have forgotten) could easily do
what I did. They hesitated to break their intentions to
me, under the impression that I should be very unwilling
to leave a business holding out so fair a prospect of
future success. They at once offered me terms, which,
if I had declined to accept, they would, I afterwards
found, have increased, in order to secure to themselves
this, as they considered, thriving business, and which
with continued good looking aifter and good manage-
ment might have become so. But I was too happy
to separate from Jones, to hesitate to accept their
proposal. They offered to give me for my share of the
business six mule machines such as we were making for
sale, a reel, and a making up machine, with which to
pack the yarn when finished in skeins into bundles for
sale. I had now, when about nineteen years of age, to
begin the world on my own account, having the promise
of the machinery named to commence with.

When I left Mr. Satterfield's business I had to find new
lodgings — another untried step in my existence. In St.
Ann's Square, in which.Mr. Satterfield' s shop was situated ,
lived an elderly widow, who took lodgers and boarders.
Here were two respectable travellers already established
when I applied, and I found I could have a bedroom to
myself, — a sitting-room, fronting the square, in company
with these gentlemen travelhng for some respectable-
manufacturing houses, — and board, such as they had,

ROBERT OWEN 33

for half a guinea a week, I accepted it, found the house
clean, the attendance good, — tea or coffee, etc., for break-
fast,— a hot joint, well-cooked, and a pudding or pie daily
for dinner, — tea in the afternoon, — and good bread and
cheese and butter, and a glass of ale, at supper, — and I
do not recollect ever living, as mere living, better, or
more to my satisfaction. But how this old widow con-
tinued thus to supply us and to get her own living out of
us, I could never imderstand. Perhaps the house was
her own ; and provisions were then (1789-90) cheap,
and manufacturing luxury had not coiamenced. The
widow always appeared cheerful and satisfied. We had
all our meals alone ; and here I remained as long as I
continued in partnership with Mr. Jones. Now, I
suppose, for the same accommodation in St. Ann's
Square, I should have to pay from 30s. to 40s. per week.
' During my partnership with Mr. Jones I received a
letter from my early master, Mr. McGuffog, who was be-
coming old and wealthy. He wished me to join him in
his business, and held out one strong temptation to me.
He offered to supply all the capital, and to give me half
of the profits immediately, and the whole business, so
well-established, after a very few years. Thanking him
cordially for his very liberal offer and kind intentions, I
was of course obliged to decline it. Often have I re-
flected since, how different would have been the history
of my life had I accepted this business, which ninety-
nine out of a hundred young men at my age and in
my circumstances would have rejoiced to obtain, and
perhaps not one out of a thousand would have refused.
Had I accepted this offer I should probably have
married Mr. McGuffog's niece, who many years after-
wards, I learned from herself, young as we were, had
become much attached to me ; and as we should have
been heirs to the property of both Mr. and Mrs. McGuffog
after their death, I should most likely have lived and died
a rich Stamford linen draper. This however was not
to be, — for a different field of action was preparing for
ipe. When I separated from Jones and the machine
making business, i took a large newly-erected building,

34 THE LIFE OF

or factory, as such ])laces were then beginning to be
called. It was situated in Ancoats Lane. I rented it
from a builder of the name of Woodruff, with whom I
afterwards went to board and lodge. From Jones and
his new partner I received three out of six mule machines
which were promised, with the reel and making up
machine ; and with this stock I commenced business for
myself in a small part of one of the large rooms in this
large building.

The machines were set to work, and I engaged three
men to work tli£m — that is, to spin cotton yarn or thread
upon them from a previous preparation called rovings.
When the yarn was spun, it was in the cop form, from
which it was to be made upon the reel into hanks, each
one hundred and forty yards in length. This operation
I performed, and then made these hanks into bimdles
of five pounds weight each, and in this state, wrapped
neatly up in paper, I sold them to a Mr. Mitchell, an
agent from some mercantile manufacturing houses in
Glasgow, who sold the yarn to muslin weavers, or manu-
factured it themselves. The m.anufacture of British
muslins was but in its infancy. 'The first British muslins
were made when I was an apprentice with Mr. McGuffog,
by a Mr. Oldknow at Stockport in Cheshire, about seven
m.iles from Manchester, who must have commenced this
branch about the year 1780, 1781, or 1782 ; and it is
curious to trace the history of this manufacture.

When I first went to Mr. McGuffog, there were
no other muslins for sale, except those made in the East
Indies, and known as East India muslins ; but while I
was with him, Mr. Oldknow began to manufacture a
fabric which he called, by way of distinction, British
Mull Muslin. It was a new article in the market, less
than a yard wide, for which he charged to Mr. McGuffog
9s. or 9s. 6d., and which Mr. McGuffog resold to* his
customers at half a guinea per yard. It was eagerly
sought for, and rapidly bought up by the nobility at that
price, — and Mr. McGuffog could not obtain from Mr.
Oldknow a supply equal to his demand. He was obliged
to beg and pray of Mr. Oldknow to add a piece or two

ROBERT OWEN 35

more to his weekly order for them, but frequently
without success. Such is the all-powerful influence of
fashion and its absurdities under the present disorder
of the human intellects, that the parties who were then
so eager to buy this new fabric at los. 6d. the yard, would
not now look at it ; and a much better quality may be
at this time purchased by the poor at two pence the yard.

I have said that my three spinners were spinning the
cotton yarn on my three mules from rovings. I had no
machinery to make rovings, and was obliged to purchase
them, — they were the half -made materials to be spun
into thread. I had become acquainted with two young
industrious Scotchmen, of the names of McConnell and
Kennedy, who had also commenced about the same time
as myself to make cotton machinery upon a small scale,
and they had now proceeded so far as to make some of
the machinery for preparing the cotton for the mule spin-
ning machinery so far as to enable them to make the
rovings, which they sold in that state to the spinners at
a good profit. I was one of their first and most regular
customers, giving them, as I recollect, 12s, per pound
for rovings, which, when spun into thread, and made up
into the five pound bundles, I sold to Mr. Mitchell at 22s.
per pound. This was in the year 1790.

Such was the commencement of Messrs. McConnell
and Kennedy's successful career as cotton spinners, —
such the foundation of those palace-like buildings which
were afterwards erected by this firm, — of the princely
fortunes which they made by them, and of my own pro-
ceedings in Manchester and in New Lanark in Scotland.
They could then only make the rovings, without finishing
the thread ; and I could only finish the thread, without
being competent to make the rovings.

These are the kind of circumstances which, without
our knowledge or control, from small beginning produce
very different results to any anticipated by us when we
commence.

Jones and his new partner, as I foresaw, were getting
rapidly into confusion and pecuniary difficulties. They
informed me they could not make good their engagement

36 THE LIFE OF

with me, and I never received the three remaining mule
machines. I beHeve they ultimately stopped payment,
and that Jones returned to his wire bonnet-frame
making.

Seeing that I was not likely to obtain more machinery
from my former partner, I made up my mind to do as
well as i could with that amount which I had obtained.
With the three men spinning for me, reeling, and making
up that which they spun, and by selling it weekly to Mr.
Mitchell, I made on the average about six pounds of
profit each week, and deemed myself doing well for a
young beginner, — for I had let the remainder of the large
building which I occupied, to tenants who paid m}/ whole
rent, and I retained my portion of it by these means
free of cost.

About this period cotton spinning was so profitable
that it began to engage the attention of many parties
with capitals. Mr. Arkwright, the introducer, if not the
inventor of the new cotton spinning machinery, had had
a cotton spinning mill erected in Manchester, under a
manager of the name of Simpson ; and a Mr. Drinkwater,
a rich Manchester manufacturer ^and foreign merchant,
had built a mill for finer spinning, and was beginning
to fill it with machinery under the superintendence of a
Mr. George Lee, a very superior scientific person in those
days. Mr,, afterwards Sir George Philips, was desirous
of building a large mill in Salford, and he, unknown to
Mr. Drinkwater, formed a partnership with Mr. George
Lee, afterwards known for many years as a leading firm
in Manchester, as Philips and Lee. Mr. Lee had given
Mr. Drinkwater notice that he must leave him, having
formed this new partnership. Mr. Drinkwater being
totally ignorant of everything connected with cotton
spinning, although a good fustian manufacturer and a
first-rate foreign merchant, and by this time become
very wealthy, was greatly nonplussed by Mr. Lee thus
abandoning the establishment, which, except with the
expectation of Mr. Lee's permanent services, he would
not have commenced.

Under this to him very untoward circumstance he had

ROBERT OWEN 37

to advertise for a manager to undertake the superin-
tendence of this mill, now in progress ; and his advertise-
ment appeared on a Saturday in the Manchester papers,
but I had not seen or heard of it until I went to my
factory on the Monday morning following, when, as I
entered the room where my spinning machines were, one
of the spinners said — " Mr. Lee has left Mr. Drink water,
" and he has advertised for a manager." I merely said —
" what will he do ? " and passed on to my own occupa-
tion. But (and how such an idea could enter my head I
know not), wdthout saying a word, I put on my hat and
proceeded straight to Mr. Drinkwater's counting-house,
and boy, and inexperienced, as I was, I asked him for
the situation for which he had advertised. The circum-
stances which now occurred made a lasting impression
upon me, because they led to important future conse-
quences. He said immediately — " You are too young,"
— and at that time being fresh coloured I looked younger
than 1 was. I said, "That was an objection made to me
" four or five years ago^ but I did not expect it would
" be made to me now." '" How old are you ? " "Twenty
" in May this year " — was my reply. " How often do you
" get drunk in the week ? " " (This was a common habit
with almost all persons in Manchester and Lancashire at
that period.) " I was never," I said, " drunk in my
"life" — blushing scarlet at this unexpected question.
My answer and the manner of it made, I suppose, a
favourable impression ; for the next question was —
' ' What salary do you ask ? " " Three hundred a year ' '
— was my reply. " What ? " Mr. Drinkwater said, with
some surprise, repeating the words — " Three hundred a
" year ! I have had this morning I know not how many
" seeking the situation, and I do not think that all
" their askings together would amount to what you
" require." " Icannot be governed by what others ask,"
said I, " and I cannot take less. I am now making
" that sum by my own business." •' Can you prove that
" to me ? " " Yes. I will show you the business and
" my books." " Then I will go with you, and let me
" see them," said Mr. Drinkwater. We went to my

38 THE LIFE OF *

factory. I explained the nature of my business, opened
the book, and proved my statement to his satisfaction.
He then said — " What reference as to past character
"can you give?" I referred him to Mr. Satterfield,
Messrs. Flint and Palmer, and Mr. McGuffog. " Come
" to me on such a day, and you shall have my
answer." This was to give him time to make the
inquiries.

I called upon him at the time appointed. He said,
" I will give you the three hundred a year, as you ask,
" and I will take all your machinery at its cost price,
" and I shall require you to take the management of the

"^ " mill and of the workpeople, about 500, immediately."
I accordingly made my arrangements. Mr. Drinkwater
knew nothing about the mill ; but so far as the business
had proceeded he had supplied the capital as it was
wanted, and had received the money when the produce
was sold and paid for. Mr. Lee had left the day before
I was sent for to take his place, and I entered it without
the slightest instruction or explanation about anything.
When I arrived at the mill, which was in another part of
the town from Mr. Drinkwater^s place of business, I
found myself at once in the midst of live hundred men,
women, and children, who were busily occupied with
machinery, much of which I had scarcely seen, and
never in regular connection to manufacture from the
cotton to the finished thread. I said to myself, with
feelings I shall never forget, — " How came I here ?

1 " and how is it possible I can manage these people and
" this business ? " To this period I had been a thought-
ful, retiring character, extremely sensitive, and could
seldom speak to a stranger without blushing, especially
to one of the other sex, except in the ordinary routine of
serving in the departments of business through which I
had passed ; and I was diflident of my own powers,
knowing what a very imperfect and deficient education
I had received. I was therefore greatly surprised at
myself, that, without thought or reflection, on the
impulse of the moment, I had solicited this situation.
But 1 had no idea of the task which I had to perform.

ROBERT OWEN 39

in many respects entirely new to me, or I should never
have made the attempt to perform it. My only ex-
perience had been in serving in a retail shop, except
during the few months I had been in partnership with
Jones, which short time was spent in keeping wages'
accounts, and in seeing that the men were at work, and
in working on a capital of one hundred pounds. Had
I seen the establishment before I applied to manage it,
I should never have thojught of doing an act so truly
presumptuous. Mr. Lee had left the mill the day before
I undertook it, — Mr. Drinkwater did not come with me
to introduce me to any of the people, — and thus, un-
instructed, I had to take the management of the concern.
I had to purchase the raw material, — to make the
machines, for the mill was not nearly filled with
machinery, — to manufacture the cotton'into yarn, — to
sell it, — and to keep the accounts, — pay the wages, —
and, in fact, to take the whole responsibility of the first
fine cotton spinning establishment by machinery that
had ever been erected, commenced by one of the most
scientific men of his day, and who was considered a
man of very superior attainments, having been highly
educated, and being a finished mathematician. Such
was the concern I had to manage when not yet tv/enty
years of age, and such the person I had to succeed.

When it was known in Manchester that Mr. Drink-
water had engaged me, a mere boy without experience, to
take the entire direction of his new mill, which was then
considered almost one of the wonders of the mechanical
and manufacturing world, the leading people, as I learned
afterwards, thought he had lost his senses, and they pre-
dicted a fa ilure and great disappointment . Well— there
I was, to undertake this task, and no one to give me any
assistance. I at once determined to do the best I could,
and began to examine the outhne and detail of what was
. in progress. I looked grave, — inspected everything
very minutely, — examined the drawings and calculations
of the machinery, as left by Mr. Lee, and these were of
great use to me. I was with the first in the morning,
and I locked up the premises at night, taking the keys

40 THE LIFE OF

with me. I continued this silent inspection and super-
intendence day by day for six weeks, saying merely yes
or no to the questions of what was to be done or other-
wise, and during that period I did not give one direct
order about anything. But at the end of that time I
felt myself so much master of my position, as to be ready
to give directions in every department. My previous
habits had prepared me for great nicety and exactness
of action, and for a degree of perfection in operations to
which parties then employed in cotton spinning were
little accustomed. I soon perceived the defects in the
various processes, and in the correctness which was
required in making certain parts of the machinery — all
yet in a rude state, compared with the advances which
have been made from that time to the present. This
factory or cotton mill was built on purpose to manu-
facture the finest yarns or thread, and Mr. Lee had
attained what was then considered an extraordinary
degree of fineness, having succeeded in producing what
was technically known as one hundred and twenty hanks
in the pound. But it was of very indifferent quality.
By my acquired faculty under Mr. McGuffog's discipline,
of great exactness and nicety in handling and keeping
fine and expensive articles, I soon improved the quality
of our manufacture. There was a large stock of yarn
upon hand unsold, manufactured under Mr. Lee's
management, of various degrees of fineness, from
seventy to one hundred and twenty.

Mr. Drinkwater lived in his country house in the
summer, and in his town house in the winter. He was
now living in the country, and came to his counting-house
and warehouse, adjoining his winter residence, twice a
week. He never came to the mill, bu-t almost always
desired to see me at his counting-house on the days he
attended there, and that I should bring specimens of
the manufacture week by week. He found the quality
gradually to improve, and the customers for it to prefer
the new-made to the old stock. He found also that the
people employed were, according to reports made to
him by others, well disciplinerl, and yet well satisfied

ROBERT OWEN 41

with the rules, regulations, and mode of management
which I had adopted ; and he became week by week
more satisfied with the boy he had taken in opposition
to pubhc opinion to manage his new factory. The \
advantages which I possessed to counteract my ignorance I
and inexperience arose from my early training with /
Mr. McGuffog, amidst fine and superior fabrics, and a a
knowledge acquired of human nature by having early/
overcome the prejudices of religion. /

I had by this period perceived the constant influence
of circumstances over my own proceedings and those of
others, and by comparison with myself and others I
became conscious of the created differences in our
original organizations. Relieved from religioas preju-
dices and their obstructive mfluences to the attainment
of common sense, my mind became simple in its new
arrangement of ideas, and gradually came to the con-
clusion that man could not make his own organization,
or any one of its qualities, and that these qualities were,
according to their nature, more or less influenced by the '
circumstances which occurred in the life of each, over
which the individual had no other control than these
combined circumstances gave him, but over which society
had an overwhelming influence ; and I therefore viewed
human nature in my fellow-creatures through a medium
different from others, and with far more charity. Know-
ing that they did not make themselves, or the circum-
stances or conditions in which they were involved, and
that these conditions combined necessarily forced them
to be that which they became.-^I was obliged to con-
sider my fellow-men as beings made by circumstances
before and after their birth, not under their own control,
except as previously stated and to a limited extent, —
and therefore to have illimitable charity for their feelings,
thoughts, and actions. This knowledge of our common
nature gave me the early habit of considering man the
necessary result of his organization and the conditions
by which nature and society surrounded him. and of
looking upon and acting towards all in the spirit which
this knowledge created. ,My mind, in consequence,

Mj

42 THE LIFE OF

gradually became calm and serene, and anger and ill-will
died within me.

This knowledge of human nature gave me for a long
period an unconscious advantage over others. My
treatment of all with whom I came into communication
was so natural, that it generally gained their confidence,
and drew forth only their good qualities to me ; and I
was often much surprised to discover how much more
easily I accomplished my objects than others whose
educated acquirements were much superior to mjne.
Very generally I had the good will of all ; and, — except
when I afterwards opposed in public all the religions of
the world, and the past and present system of society,
and thus aroused the oldest prejudices of all against my
new views of society, — I was generally a favourite with
both sexes and all classes.

■ fin consequence of this to me unconscious power over
others — I had produced such effects over the workpeople
in the factory in the first six months of my management,
that I had the most complete influence over them, and
their order and discipline exceeded that of any other
in or near Manchester ; and for regularity and sobriety
they were an example which none could then imitate ;
for the workpeople earned at that period higher wages,
and were far more independent than they have ever
been since, i

The factory also I had re-arranged, and always had it
kept in superior order, so that at all times it was in a
state to be inspected by any parties.

But at this period cotton mills were closed against all
strangers, and no one was admitted. They were kept
with great jealousy against all intruders ; the outer doors
being always locked. Mr. Drinkwater himself had not
yet entered the mill since I took charge of it, and he came
only three times during the four years I retained the
management of it. and each time with some stranger
who had influence with him . The first time he came with
the celebrated astronomer. Herschell, — the second time
with Mr. Sergeant Heywood, his son-in-law, — and the
third time with Mr. Peter Marsland. the father of the

ROBERT OWEN 43

M.P. for in Scotland. Mr. Peter Marsland was then

one of the new great cotton Lords.

To return to the narrative. Mr. Drinkwater, who from
some source knew, no doubt, the particulars of my
management, and the progress and change I had made
in the factory, at the end of the first six months sent for
me to his country residence, having something which he
wished to communicate to me.

I was yet but an ill-educated awkward youth, strongly
sensitive to my defects of education, speaking un-
grammatically, a kind of Welsh English, in consequence
of the imperfect language spoken in Newtown, which
i was an imperfect mixture of both languages ; and I
' had yet only had the society attainable by a retail assist-
1 ant. I was also so sensitive as among strangers to feel
and to act awkwardly, and I was never satisfied with my
own speaking and acting, and was subject painfully
to blushing, which, with all my strongest efforts, I could
not prevent. In fact, I felt the possession of ideas
superior to my power of expressing them, and this always
embarrassed me with strangers, and especially when in
the company of those who had been systematically well
educated, according to existing notions of education.
; I had not yet been in Mr. Drinkwater's house in Man-
' Chester, and therefore when I was requested to go to him
: at his country house, I was at a loss to conjecture what
I was the object of this new proceeding, and I felt un-
certain and somewhat uncomfortable as to the result.
When, however, I had arrived, and was taken into Mr.
Drinkwater's room of business, he said, — " Mr. Owen.
" I have sent for you to propose a matter of business
" important to you and me. I have watched your pro-
" ceedings, and know them well, since you came into
" my service, and I am well pleased with all you have
" done. I now wish you to make up your mind to remain
" permanently with me. I have agreed to give you
• three hundred pounds for this year ; and if you will
' consent to remain with me, I will give you four
j " hundred for the next year,— five hundred for the third
I " year, — and 1 have two sons growing up, and the fourth

i

44 THE LIFE OF

" year you shall join them in partnership with me, and
" you shall have a fourth of the profits, and you know
" now what they are likely to be. What do you say
" to this proposal ? " I said, " I think it most liberal,
" and willingly agree to it."

" Then," he replied, " the agreement shall be made
" out while you are here, and you shall take a copy of
" it home with you." When this was done, and both
agreements were signed, I returned home well pleased
with my visit.

I was now placed in an independent position for one
not yet twenty years of age. I was born in 1771, as
previously stated, and this event occurred earl}' in 1790
I had also given to me full power to take my own course
in what I should deem beneficial to promote the interests
of the establishment. I was desirous of having the fabric
which was manufactured under my direction distin
guished from that which had been made under Mr. Lee's
management, and my name was permitted to be printed
on the outside of the packages or ' bundles,' as they
were called when the yarn was made up into five
pounds weight for sale. The new-made yarn sold
readily at high prices ; while the former stock at less
prices sold slowly, and it was long before the whole of
it was disposed of.

At this period the cotton used for spinning by the new
machinery was obtained from our West India Islands,
from South America, and from the French Island of
Bourbon, and was usually known as Orleans cotton.
No North American cotton was yet used for spinning.
The cotton which came from North America could not
be worked up with the machinery then in use. The
finest cotton yarn and thread which was then sj)un was
made in this factory, and from cotton brought from
the French Islands ; and the highest counts or fmesl
thread yet produced by machinery was technically
denominated one hundred and twenty ; or that number
of hanks, each of 840 yards, was required to make a
pound. At this period, these yarns were sold according
to a pubHshed list of prices for each number, from the

ROBERT OWEN 45

lowest to the highest ; and, according to the quality

made by each house, when inferior so much per cent, was

deducted in price from the published lists ; or when

very good in quality, so much per cent, was added to

the price. But it was only Mr. Drinkwater's fine new

yarns that could obtain ten per cent, above the list

price, and they sold readily for that sum ; — while the

quality made under Mr. Lee's direction, while he was the

manager, sold slowly at the list price. This was the

j tortoise overtaking the hare ; — for Mr. Lee was a man

' of high genius, and possessed great talent as a scientific

i machinist and engineer, — to which I had not the least

; pretension. But so it was, that I now stood high in the

estimation of the Manchester public and of the first

Scotch muslin manufacturers, as a maker of fine cotton

yarns — the Scotch manufacturers being our chief

customers.

It has been previously mentioned that I had to pur-
chase the cotton which was required for the use of our
factory. I had given much attention to this part of the
business, and I was now considered by the cotton brokers,
from whom the spinners at this time bought this material,
to be among the best judges of its quality, if not the best
in the market.

Among other brokers from whom I was in the practice
of making purchases of cotton, was a Mr. Robert Spear,
who stood high in his line of business, as a man of in-
tegrity and knowledge. Either in this year or in the
beginning of 1791, the first two packages of American
Sea Island cotton were consigned to him by the Li\^erpool
igent of the American planter, with a request that he
would apply to a competent spinner to try its quality
and to give an opinion of its value. Mr. Spear applied
to me, and said the parties to whom it belonged were
unconscious to what use it could be put, or of its worth
to manufacturers, and asked me to work it up and give
my own price for it, as the quahty might prove to be.
It was loosely packed, each bag about one hundred and
tifty pounds in weight, half full of seeds, and, compared
with the finest Orleans cotton, very dingy in colour.

h

46 THE LIFE OF

This was the first cotton sent from the United States to
be spun upon the new machinery through rollers, instead
of from the distaff or hand card. I had the two bags
cleaned and manufactured, and it made a better thread
than the French Island cotton, but the colour was much
less white, and it was therefore much less attractive to
the eye. I sold it to a Scotch manufacturer of the name
of James Craig, at a lower price on account of its colour,
and he was the first manufacturer who used American
cotton in the yarn which he made into muslins. It was
some surprise to me to see Mr. Craig soon back from
Scotland to inquire for some more of the dingy-coloured
yarn which he had purchased from me. I told him it
had been all sold during his absence, and he appeared
much disappointed. " Why be so disappointed," I said,
" when we can soon supply you with the superior colour
" at the usual price ? "

" I am indeed," he replied, " much disappointed, — for
" it proved of the best quality I have ever seen."
" But the colour ? " I said. " Oh, that was of no conse-
" quence, for it bleached as well, if not better than the
" white colour, and I came up purposing to buy your
" whole stock of it." This gave me full knowledge of
the superior qualityof Sea Island North American cotton.
This is the long staple quality of North American cotton,
and it was some time afterwards before machinery was
invented to spin the upland or short-fibred cotton, now
so extensively imported into this country, and so largely
grown in the Southern States of North America.

The extension of the cotton trade from that period to
the present is one of the wonders of modern times, and
for forty years I took a prominent and active part in it,
and during which time, in the arrangements and manage-
ment of extensive factories, and in the improvement of
the condition of the persons employed in tliem, I led the
waj^ and was followed at first by a few only of the larger
establishments, and afterwards slowly by others^/'

I early noticed the greai attention given to the dead
machinery, and the neglect and disregard of the living
machinery. At the period of which I am now writing I

ROBERT OWEN 47

was a novice in general society. I had known it only as
■ customers in retail business, or as a junior dependent in
i the houses of my employers ; for little more than a year
had elapsed between my leaving Mr. Satterfield's house
and my undertaking to manage the first fine cotton spin-
ning factory by machinery that had ever been erected.
My life had been one of close attention to business, day
by day, except the few days when I visited my parents
and relatives in and about Newtown, between the time
? of my leaving Mr. McGuffog and my going to Messrs.
'■: Flint and Palmer's. I was thus from ten years of age a
I stranger, as it were, among strangers, and was known
il only as a 3'outh of business, and consequently was left
:i in a great measure to my own communings and in-
ii experienced observations. Absorbed in my attention to
|! business, I knew little of the habits, customs, and fashions
I of famiUes having pretentions to some standing in society,
^ and now I began strongly to feel this deficiency. For
I persons who had been well educated, according to ex-
i isting notions of education, and of good standing in
I mercantile society, began to desire my acquaintance.
But knowing my own imperfections in these respects, I
always unwillingly accepted invitations, and I knew
nothing of the female sex, except as customers in
business. This also withheld me from making family
acquaintances. On these matters I was sensitive to a
painful excess, for I had at this time a high opinion of
the attainments of the wealthy educated classes, and of
all above them. My future history will show how
woefully I mistook their acquirements by means of what
is called a superior education.

In about a year after I had commenced the manage-
ment of this establishment I had increased my know-
ledge of the qualities of cotton, which varied very much,
and had improved the accuracy of the machinery used,
and the correctness of all the processes through which the
material had to pass to be formed into finished thread
or yarn, and I had gained the means to increase the fine-
ness of the finished thread from 120 to upwards of 300
hanks in the pound, and had thus enabled the Scotch

48 THE LIFE OF

manufacturers in Paisley and its neighbourhood to open
a new and extensive manufacture in various kinds of
fine muslin ; and such was the superiority of the quality
of the yarn which I made, that fifty per cent, above the
list price was readily obtained for it, and sufficient
could not be produced by all our machinery' when at
full work, until the disastrous commercial year of 1792
affected the prices of all manufactured articles, and
ruined many houses then carrying on extensive
business.

Some idea may be formed of the success of the manu-
facture in which I was engaged for Mr. Drinkwater, from
the fact that I gave five shillings a pound for the cotton,
which, when finished into fine thread for the muslin
weaver, extending to near 250 hanks in the pound, I
sold for (.9 i8s. 6d. per pound. This was sold at the
commencement of 1792 to Alexander Speirs of Kil-
barchan, who made it into muslins, the first piece of which
hfe sent as a present, as the greatest curiosity of British
manufacture, to old Queen Charlotte. I extended after-
wards the fineness of the thread to upwards of 300 hanks
in the pound, and if this had been sold at the same
period, it would have brought upwards of thirt^'-six
pounds sterling for one pound of the yarn ; but this
prosperity in the manufacture was checked by the war
with France, and the same high prices were I believe
never afterwards obtained for the same fineness or
number of hanks.

My name was now up for being the first fine cotton
spinner in the world, and this was my standing as long
as I remained the manager of Mr. Drinkwater's factory,
which was situated and I believe yet remains at Bank
Top in Manchester. The factory was then familiarly
known as the " Bank Top Mill."

The nearest rival I had in the quality of the ordinary
numbers or fineness was a Mr. Archibald Buchanan,
afterwards partner with Mr. Kirkman Finlay of Glasgow,
in mills in Ayrshire, and who (Mr. Buchanan) was the
relative, predecessor, and instructor of the late celebrated
Mr. Smith of Deanstown in Scotland. The quality of

ROBERT OWEN 4(,

yarn made by Mr. Buchanan at this period brought a
price of ten per cent, above the hst, — while Mr. Drink-
water's brought fifty per cent, above it.

These facts are stated to be explanatory of subsequent
proceedings, — for the best manufacturer in any branch
of the cotton manufacture became, in those days, a
person of public celebrity, and my name now stood
prominent before the Manchester public.

At this period there were two institutions which
attracted considerable notice in Manchester, and were
popular and celebrated each in their way. One was the
" Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society," then
under the presidency of the late highly respected Dr.
Percival. The other was the " Manchester College,"
under Dr. Baines, which after his death was removed to
York under Mr. Wellbeloved, and was chiefly for the
training of Unitarian ministers.

At this period John Dalton, the Quaker, afterwards
the celebrated Dr. Dalton the philosopher, and a Mr.
Winstanley, both intimate friends of mine, wer^ssistants
in this college under Dr. Baines ; and in their room we
often met in the evenings, and had much and frequent
interesting discussions upon religion, morals, and other
similar subjects, as well as upon the late discoveries in
chemistry and other sciences, — and here Dalton first
broached his then undefined atomic theory. We began
to think ourselves philosophers. Occasionally we ad-
mitted a friend or two to join our circle, but this was
considered a favour. At this period Coleridge was study-
ing at one of the universities, and was then considered a
genius and eloquent. He solicited permission to join
our party, that he might meet me in discussion, as I was
the one who opposed the religious prejudices of all sects,
though always in a friendly and kind manner, having
now imbibed the spirit of charity and kindness for my
opponents, which was forced upon me by my knowledge
of the true formation of character by nature and society.
Mr. Coleridge had a great fluency of words, and he could
well put them together in high sounding sentences ;
but my few words, directly to the point, generally told

50 THE LIFE OF

well ; and although the eloquence and learning were
with him, the strength of the argument was generally
admitted to be on my side. Many years afterwards,
when he was better known and more celebrated, I
presented him with a copy of my Essays on the Formation
of Character, and the next time I met him after he had
read them, he said — " Mr. Owen, I am really ashamed of
" myself. I have been making use of many words in
" writing and speaking what is called eloquence, while I
". find you have said much more to the purpose in plain
" simple language, easily to be understood, and in a short
" compass. I will endeavour to profit by it."

These friendly meetings and discussions with my friends
Dalton and Winstanley (the latter of whom was brother-
in-law to Dr. , one of the most successful physicians

in Manchester), were continued until they attracted the
attention of the principal, Dr. Baines, who became afraid
that I should convert his assistants from his orthodoxy ;
and our meetings were required to be less frequent in
the college. They were, however, continued elsewhere,
and I acquired the name from some of the parties who
attended these meetings, of " the reasoning machine " —
because they said I made man a mere reasoning machine,
made to be so by nature and society-^' This college was
removed to York while I remained in Manchester, and
is there called the " Manchester College." -^

However heterodox my opinions were. I was solicited
to become a member of the " Literary and Philosophical
Society of Manchester," to which I consented. I was
thus introduced to the leading professional characters,
particularly in the medical profession, which at this
period stood high in Manchester, and its leading members
were the aristocracy of the town. The manufacturers
at this period were generally plodding men of business,
with little knowledge and limited ideas, except in their
own immediate circle of occupation. The foreign mer-
chants, or rather the merchants in the foreign trade,
were somewhat more advanced. Without knowing why,
I was thus introduced to the elite of the Manchester _
Literary and Philosophical Society, for I had not been

ROBERT OWEN 51

long a member of the society before I was requested to
become a member of its committee, a club which was com-
posed of what were considered the select and most efficient
members of the society, and which met always im-
mediately after the regular sittings of the society. This
club or committee was composed at this period of Dr.
Percival, the president, — Drs. Ferriar,— Holme,— and
Bardsley, — Surgeon Simpson, — and Mr. Henry the
chemist ; and feeling my deficiency of the usual education
of such persons, I could not comprehend the reasons for
my admission into the society and club. Upon one occa-
sion, at the sitting of the society, the subject of cotton was
introduced, on one of the nights when the President was
in the chair. I had never spoken in the society, nor ever
heard my own voice in public ; nor had I the slightest
desire ever to hear it. I was too diffident and sensitive
to feel any such inchnation ; but upon this occasion, to
my surprise and great confusion. Dr. Percival said —
" I see a young friend present, who I am sure can if he
" will give us some valuable information upon the subject.
" I mean Mr. Owen, so well known for his knowledge in
" fine cotton spinning." I blushed, and stammered out
some few incoherent sentences, and felt quite annoyed
at my ignorance and awkwardness being thus exposed.
Had it not been for this incident, it is probable I should
never have attempted to speak in public. I was conscious
I knew more of the kinds, qualities, and history of this
material, than any of those who spoke this evening on
the subject. This impression induced me to attempt to
write a paper for the society upon this subject, and it
was read and discussed at the following meeting of the
society. At its conclusion the President, who was always
desirous of bringing forward and encouraging young
persons who became members of the society, thanked
me for the paper, which he said was a very useful practical
production, and did me much credit. I was quite
unconscious of deserving this compliment, and attributed
it to the kind disposition of the President. It was after
the discussion on this paper that I was solicited to join
the club, all the members of which were expected to

52 THE LIFE OF

write a paper during each session of the meetings of the
society.

Upon a subsequent and later meeting, when I had
acquired somewhat more confidence in myself, Dr. Ferriar
read a paper, the subject of which was to endeavour to
prove that any one, by his own will, might become a
genius, and that it only required determination and in-
dustry for any one to attain this quality in any pursuit.
The paper was a very learned one. The Dr. was the
senior Vice-President, and after he had read it there was a
profound silence, and, contrary to all former practice,
after the President had expressed his opinion as usual
that it was an important paper deserving much attention,
no one rose to speak. Each member was entitled to
bring a friend or two with him to the meeting, and that
night I had brought John Dalton and Mr. Winstanley
with me, saying they would be interested in the debate.
I felt therefore quite disappointed that no one appeared
likely to commence a discussion. Waiting until I
thought the President would close the meeting for want
of speakers, although it was a full meeting, I rose, merely
with a view to induce a debate, that my friends might
not be disappointed, and said, " Mr. President, — this is
" a most learned and ingenious paper. But as it was
" read it occurred to me that I have always had a great
" desire to become a genius, and have always been very
" industrious in my application for the purpose, but I
'■ could never succeed. I therefore am obliged to con-
" elude that there must be some error unexplained in our
" learned author's theory." And I sat down. Dr.
Ferriar rose to reply- He blushed, or became so red with
suppressed feeling as to attract the attention of the
members, and merely stammered out some confused
reply, when, to relieve his embarrassment, some members
began to speak, and a discussion followed. But from that
night Dr. Ferriar never forgot my short speech, for he
was never afterwards so cordial and friendly as he had
been previously. Lavoisier and Chaptal had at this
time made chemistry a favourite subject among pro-
fessional men, and 1 had given some attention to it.

ROBERT OWEN 53

One night when their discoveries were the subject for
discussion, I said that the universe appeared to me to be
one great laboratory ; that all things were chemical
compounds, and that man was only a complicated
chemical compound. From that night I was called the
" philosopher who intended to make men by chemistry."

I continued a regularly attending member of this
society and club as long as I remained in Manchester,
and wrote my expected paper for each session ; but on
what subjects they were written I do not now recollect.
The meetings became however very pleasant and useful
to me ; making me familiar with the ideas, habits, and
prejudices of a new class in society. I say prejudices, —
for the literary man has, Hke all others, his strong
educated prejudices.

I continued happily progressing in my situation until
the disastrous year of commerce, 1792, checked the rapid
upward progress of the cotton trade. All engaged in it
suffered more or less. Many were ruined in various
businesses all over the kingdom. Mr. Drinkwater had
a large capital, and stood the shock of this revulsion in
the commercial world without very much loss, while I
was in the receipt of my full salary, and so far Mr.
Drinkwater was highly satisfied with all my proceedings.

He had a cotton factory at work at Northwich in
Cheshire, which was employed in what was technically
called water-spinning, or vvarp-spinning on machinery
similar to Arkwright's at Cromford, Manchester, and
elsewhere. This Cheshire cotton mill was under the
management of an elderly man, who had taken charge
of it for some years. After Mr. Drinkwater had seen
what I had done in the factory for fine spinning in
Manchester, he was desirous I should also overhaul,
re-arrange, and take the general direction of this factory
for warp-spinning, of much lower numbers than were
produced in our Manchester factory. It was an un-
gracious task for one so young, to take the direction
over the old manager of this Cheshire mill ; but so it
was. The former manager remained in charge of it, —
but he was to act under my directions, and I rode over

IM

54 THE LIFE OF

on horseback once a fortnight to superintend and direct,
and which I continued to do as long as I remained with
Mr. Drinkwater. On the same day of the week I made
this journey on horseback, and in going had to cross what
was then a large common. In crossing it one fine hot
day in the middle of summer, an incident occurred which
made a strong impression on me at the time, and which
I will explain on a future occasion, when it can be applied
for an important purpose, and when it will be more
useful than to narrate it here. I notice it now while it
occurs to me, that I may not forget it in its proper place.

While these matters of business were progressing
successfully and happily with me, events that had a
decided influence upon my future life were occurring in
Mr. Drinkwater's family.

Miss Drinkwater was attaining womanhood, and I
conclude, although I do not recollect having seen her,
that, independently of the fortune which all expected
her father could and would give her, she was an interesting
person, for she was always well spoken of, and had been
well and carefully educated. She was therefore con-
sidered a very desirable match and connection for the
young men of the first commercial or professional families
in their circle. A gentleman, whose name I forget, — a
merchant in the foreign trade of Manchester, and very
much the gentleman in manner, of good standing in
society, and the next door town neighbour to Mr. Drink-
water, paid his addresses to her. He was not disliked
by the young lady, although he was perhaps ten or
twelve years older than she was ; for his temper was good,
and his manners attractive to the other sex. It began to
be looked upon by the public as a matter settled. In this
case, as in too many others, the course of true love did
not run smooth. I must now r^^cur to a name mentioned
in an earlier part of this narrative, — the name of one
who stood high in Cheshire and Lancashire as the first
and most extensive manufacturer of British muslins, and
from whom, as I narrated, Mr. McGuffog used to buj',
and to pray for more pieces to be added to the weekly
order- This was the once celebrated and most enter-

ROBERT OWEN 55

prising Samuel Oldknow, who it was known had not long
before made seventeen thousand pounds of profit in
each of two successive years, and who was then generally
supposed to be very wealthy, and was considered a great
man in the world of manufactures and commerce. He
had made these profits in the manufacture of muslin,
while he purchased the yarn from the cotton-spinners.
He thought the spinners were getting great profits, and
he was not, like many others, content to do well or very
well, as he was doing, — but being ambitious, he desirea to
become a great cotton-spinner, as well as the greatest
muslin manufacturer. He built a large, handsome, and
very imposing cotton mill, amidst grounds well laid out,
and the mill was beautifully situated, for he possessed
general good taste in these matters. In fact, he was
! preparing and had made great advances to become a
first-rate and leading ' cotton lord.' He had however
expended his capital so freely in building this mill,
fitting it with machinery, and purchasing land around
it, in addition to splendid buildings and arrangements in
9 and near to Stockport for carrying on his extensive muslin
; manufacture and for its sale, that when the trying time
I of 1792 arrived, he was too wide in his plans to sustain
their expenditure without making great sacrifices. To
prevent this it was afterwards generally thought that he
considered a union with Miss Drinkwater would, by the
assistance of her father, enable him to proceed unchecked.
He was a hearty, healthy, handsome man, but yet
perhaps five years older than Miss Drinkwater' s present
suitor. But'l suppose he concluded that "faint heart
never won fair lady " — and therefore he at once applied
to Mr. Drinkwater to be permitted to pay his addresses
to his daughter. Mr. Drinkwater was flattered by this
application, for at this time Mr. Oldknow stood prominent
in the cotton world, next to the Arkwrights and the
Strutts of Derbyshire.

It was believed that he was not well received at first
by the young lady. But the father, although fond of
his sons and daughters, was ambitious and obstinate.
and succeeded at length, by the great prospects held out

56 THE LIFE OF

to her of great wealth and station, in overcoming her
reluctance. She had not the means to resist his authority,
having no property in her own right, and she therefore
yielded to her father's wishes. Mr. Oldknow was con-
sequently received and accepted by father and daughter
as the future husband of the latter.

For some time all matters seemed to proceed success-
fully with Mr. Oldknow, and for a certain period he had
great influence over Mr. Drinkwater. During this
period he became acquainted with Mr. Drinkwater's
engagement with me, and this stood now in the way of
his (Mr. Oldknow's) ambition. He expressed a great
desire that the whole business of both houses should
be kept entirely to themselves, and my partnership,
which, according to my engagement, was to commence
the next year, stood in the way of this exclusive dealing
with Mr. Drinkwater's property.

Mr. Oldknow thought that this difficulty should be
overcome at any cost, and it was determined to try
what could be done with me. Mr. Drinkwater, who for
three years had once only been to his factory in Man-
chester, and then to introduce 'the celebrated Herschell
the Astronomer, sent for me to Newal House, his country
residence, where I had not been since the day the agree-
ment of his own proposal was made. I had heard some
hints of what had taken place, and of what was going
forward, and knowing Mr. Oldknow's ambition, I con-
jectured some new proposals were to be made. I went
to Newal House, and took the agreement in my pocket.
I was introduced to Mr. Drinkwater alone in his study,
and I have no doubt it was deemed a day of no little
interest to all parties. He said — " I have sent for you
" that I may explain unexpected changes which have
" taken place lately in my family. The celebrated Mr.
" Oldknow is to become my son-in-law. You know he
" is the first British muslin manufacturer, and he is
" becoming a great cotton-spinner. He has expressed
" a strong wish that the entire business of both houses
" should be retained in the family, — but you are entitled
" by our agreement to become a partner in my mills

ROBERT OWEN 57

' next year, and this agreement obstructs his extensive
' views and arrangements. He wishes me to ascertain
' from you on what conditions you would retain the
' management of my mills and give up the agreement
' for a partnership in our business. If you will give up

* your claim to the partnership, you may name your
' own salary. You have now five hundred pounds a
' year, and whatever sum you will name you shall have."

He appeared very anxious to hear my reply. I said —
' I have brought the agreement with me, and here it is,
' and I now put into the fire, because I never will

* connect myself with any parties who are not desirous
' to be united with me ; but under these circumstances
' I cannot remain your manager with any salary you
' can give." And the agreement was consumed before

him. He was not prepared for this decisive proceeding ;
and it was an act of feeling, and not of judgment, on
my part. My constitution and the previous circum-
stances in which I had been placed created these feelings,
and I could not have acted otherwise at that time.
These feelings again gave a complete change to my
future destiny.

Mr. Drinkwater said much to endeavour to change my
determination, — but ineffectually. My mind was fixed
to the decision which my feehngs forced upon me. He
then said — " I hope you will remain until another
" manager can be procured to take your place, and I
" must depend upon you for looking out for one who
" is equal to the duties required." To this I agreed.
But it was many months after this event before I could
meet \vith anyone possessing the requisite qualifications
to conduct these establishments as they were then
carried on.

When it was known that I was going to leave Mr.
Drinkwater's concern, Mr. Samuel Marsland, who, with
others had purchased the Chorlton estate, near Man-
chester, with the view of building a new town upon it,
apphed to me, and said he was going to build extensive
millsupon this property, and if I would join him in partner-
ship he would find the capital and give me one-third of

58 THE LIFE OF

the profits. This was a very liberal proposal, but as
he did not offer me half of the profits, my feehngs in-
duced me to dechne it.

Here was again the overwhelming influence of feeling
which I could not avoid, in opposition to sound j udgment.
Under the circumstances in which I was then placed, it
was my interest to accept it ; for I afterwards made a
much more unfavourable arrangement with two young
men, inexperienced in the business, although they had
capital. We were to build mills, and to divide the
profits equally between us, and 1 was to have the
management of the whole concern, under the firm of
' Moulson. Scarth, and Owen.' I commenced to build
the Chorlton mills upon land purchased from Mr.
Samuel Marsland and his partners ; but while the mills
were erecting, a new arrangement was made, which was
destined to give another direction to my future life.
This was an agreement with those two rich old-established
houses, Messrs. Borrodale and Atkinson of London, and
Messrs. Bartons of Manchester, with whom and myself a
new partnership was formed, under the firm of the
" Chorlton Twist Company," "under my management,
assisted by Mr. Thomas Atkinson, a brother of the one
in the firm of Borrodale and Atkinson.

It was nearly a year after I gave Mr. Drinkwater
notice that I must leave his establishment, before I
could find anyone competent to supply my place, — but
as I had to enter upon my new engagements, I was
obliged to give the situation to a Mr. Humphreys, an
engineer, who had done millwright and other mechanical
work for the mills I superintended, — and upon my
recommendation Mr. Drinkwater accepted him.

I had now to superintend the building of our factory,
then considered a large one, — to get the machinery
made to fit it, — and then to set the whole into action.
I left Mr. Drinkwater in 1794 or 5 ; and before the
new Chorlton mill was at work, it was two or three
years later.

I did not erect the mill and machinery to enter into
competition with Mr. Drinkwater. who had always been

ROBERT OWEN 59

I kind and liberal to me, except in not being firm in main-
taining his engagement with me, and therefore I had no
wish to injure him. The machinery which we adopted
in the Chorlton Factory was adapted for the Man-
chester and Glasgow manufacturers' demand for cloths
for printing, and for some kinds of muslins. Mr. Thomas
Atkinson kept the books, and I had to make the pur-
chases of cotton, to manufacture it into yarns, and to
dispose of it. The latter duty led me to visit the
Lancashire manufacturing towns, and also, after some
time, to visit the west of Scotland. On one of these
journeys I had to visit Blackburn, where some of our
principal customers lived and carried on their manu-
factures. Among these were Messrs. Birley and Hornby.
ij I had ridden to Blackburn on a horse hired for the
j occasion. When I called upon our wealthy customers
j; last mentioned, one of the young gentlemen of the firm
li asked me if I would go and hunt with him in the morning.
j I knew nothing of hunting, and had no desire for the
I sport, and therefore declined, saying I had only a hack
hired in Manchester, to bring me to Blackburn, and he
( was unfit for hunting. " Oh ! " he replied, " that need
\ " not prevent you, for I have a good hunter at your
jj " service." I was then left without any excuse that
I occurred to me, and I was fairly taken in against my
j inclination ; for I could not well refuse such an offer
from one of our best customers, — and I accepted it.
The hunter was sent to me the next morning, and I
: mounted it, being an inexperienced rider upon such
' horses for such purposes, with the impression that I
i; should never return without broken limbs or even with
life. I arrived on the ground just before the game was
found, and at this critical moment I found myself by
the side of the clergyman of the parish, who was ex-
tremely well mounted. He was young, and was esteemed
the most dashing rider who followed these hounds. He
and I were on one side of what I thought an impassable
wall when the fox was started on the other side. " Now
" for it," said the Parson to me, and he put his horse to
the wall, and cleared it in good style. My horse (which

6o THE LIFE OF

I discovered was a practised hunter, although I was not)
immediately followed the Parson, and how I continued
to keep my seat I know not, but so it was that I was
safe in the saddle after a pretty good shake, and off went
the Parson and I over heavy ground at first, and then
there was what was called an excellent run, and the
sport was continued for some hours. I was a light
weight, my horse was powerful, thorough bred, and a
well-taught hunter. I let him take his own way, and 1
soon found he knew much better than I did which was
the best. The Parson and I soon led the field. We kept
together, — for the horses appeared to know each other,
and we were in at every death, and the sport was not
over until late in the day, when I returned to my hotel
safe and without over fatigue. As soon as I had cleared
the first wall, and found myself safe in the saddle, all
fear left me. I had confidence in the horse and really, _
greatly to my surprise, enjoyed the sport. Thus I
discovered the cause of the pleasure from the air, the
exercise, and the excitement, which induces many to
spend so much time in follo\^ing the hounds, to the
surprise of those who have n"ever experienced its ex-
hilarating effects upon the spirits during the sport, and
on the appetite afterwards.

This was however the only time I ever indulged in
this luxury, But not for want of encouragement, —
for the next day I was praised by all my Blackburn friends
and acquaintances for my performances in the field the
previous day, having the credit of being on a par with
the Parson, who was esteemed the first in following the
hounds with tact and judgment in all that district of
hard riaers, and who always led the field. I was very
fully conscious how little I was entitled to these enco-
miums, and how much was due to my borrowed horse.

The new Chorlton Twist Company was now becoming
well-known and proceeding prosperously. Having many
customers in and round Glasgow, it became necessary
for me to go to Scotland to see them, and to endeavour to
enlarge our business connections. On my first joui^ney
to the north, a manufacturer of Preston who had ex-

ROBERT OWEN 6i

tensive concerns, requested to accompany me as a
companion, not having any business to transact in that
part of the kingdom, but merely to see the country,
which he had not previously visited. We journeyed
together, at that time no easy travelling. This was
before mail coaches were established, and we were two
nights and three days incessantly travelling in coaches,
in going from Manchester to Glasgow, — for the roads
were then in a deplorable condition, and we had to
cross a well-known dangerous mountain about midnight,
called Trickstone Bar, and which was then always passed
in fear and trembling by the passengers. We however
at length arrived safe in Glasgow, about five o'clock in
the morning, and no one being then up in the hotel at
which the coach stopped, my companion and myself
went to walk, it being a fine warm morning in summer,
on the well-known Green of Glasgow, before it was
surrounded with houses which have been since erected
on the sides of it.

The old washing houses then existed, and the old
mode of washing by tramping in tubs on the clothes to
be washed, was the common practice. Ihe washer-
women tucked up their clothes for this operation. There
were great numbers thus busily engaged, chiefly however
old women. It was an early hour, and the weather
was warm, and there were no persons walking except
ourselves. The walk from the town to the banks of
the river where we were going, led close to these wash
houses, but the washing operations in the tub were
carried on outside the buildings in the open air, exposed
to all passers. This practice of washing was new to
both of us, and before we came near them we were at a
loss to imagine what so many so early in the morning
were about, continually in action in these tubs. As we
drew nearer, our surprise increased when we saw these
women with their naked legs, and their clothes held up
much higher than decency required, or than appeared
to us at all necessary. My friend stopped, and with the
greatest astonishment in his countenance said — " Is it
" possible, Mr. Owen, that those are living women ? "

62 THE LIFE OF

I said — " They look like them, although I have never
" seen such an exhibition before ; but these must be the
" habits of a country new to us " — in which we were con-
firmed, for as we came up and passed very near to them,
they took no more notice than if we had not been near
them, and made no difference in their tramping and
turning in their tubs. I said when we had passed them,
"It is evident these women think nothing of this
" practice. They are no doubt accustomed to it from.
" their childhood, and have none of our English feehngs
" upon seeing such a practice, — it is another proof among
" thousands, that, commencing early in life, we may be
" taught to think any custom right or wrong, and a
" valuable lesson may be learned from it; for, as you
" saw, not one appeared to feel or think there was
" anything strange or wrong in what they were doing."

Up to this period the intercourse between the south
and the north was very limited, compared with the
change which soon followed the introduction of mail
coaches, and the consequent improvement of the roads
in Scotland. The surprise at seeing this practice, so
strongly expressed by the English on first visiting
Glasgow, induced a change in this custom, and now it is
very seldom seen, except in out-of-the-way country places.
At the time of my first visit to Glasgow, the inhabitants
were unconscious of there being any impropriety in
this proceeding ; and I have seen it continued when the
Green was crowded with people walking in all directions,
and no one seemed to notice the washers. But I never
afterwards saw the practice so fully carried out as on
this occasion ; and it therefore gave us, as entire
strangers, a singular introduction into Scotland, — for we
had not yet been in a Scotch house, and I then little
imagined that I should become so interested in this
locality as I afterwards was.

The improvements in Glasgow and in Scotland
generally, from that period to the present, have not been
surpassed probably in any part of the world.

This visit to Glasgow was the cause of a new phase in
my history, and became a circumstance which had a

ROBERT OWEN 63

great influence on my subsequent proceedings. I have
mentioned my knowledge of Mr. Robert Spear, the
Manchester cotton broker, who sent to me the first two
bags of American Sea Island cotton imported into this
country. He had a sister, whom I also knew, and who
was living with him in Manchester. This sister happened
to be on a visit to the fam.ily of Mr. Dale, who was then
one of the most extraordinary men in the commercial
world of Scotland, — an extensive manufacturer, cotton-
spinner, merchant, banker, and preacher. He had five
daughters, — the eldest then about nineteen. While I
was one day walking in Glasgow, near to the Cross,
the most public place in the city, I met Miss Spear
in company with Miss Dale. Miss Spear was glad to
irieet one whom she knew from Manchester, and stopped
me, introducing me at the same time to Miss Dale. I
conversed some time with Miss Spear concerning our
friends in Manchester. After a short time Miss Dale
asked me if I had seen the Falls of the Clyde and her
lather's mills, for if I had not, and wished to see them,
she would give me an introduction to her uncle, who was
one of the managers of the mills and who lived there. I
thanked her, and said I had a friend with me in Glasgow,
and we should both like to see the falls and the mills.
She said she should like to know what we thought of them
after we had seen them and had returned. The intro-
duction was sent for me and my friend, and we visited
this to us new scenery, and inspected the mills under
the guidance of Mr. James Dale, who, I learned, was
half brother to Mr. David Dale, the father of Miss Dale.
When I had inspected the establishment which was
called the "New Lanark Mills," and which then con-
sisted of a primitive manufacturing Scotch village and
four mills for spinning cotton, I said to my friend, as I
stood in front of the establishment, " of all places I have
" yet seen, I should prefer this in which to try an experi-
" ment 1 have long contemplated and have wished to
" have an opportunity to put into practice ; " — not in
the least supposing at the moment that there was the
most distant chance that the wish would ever be gratified.

64 THE LIFE OF

On returning to Glasgow I called upon Miss Dale to thank
her for her kind introduction to her uncle, and to say
how much I was gratified wit)i the scenery about the Falls
of the Clyde, and with the site of the mills. She was at
home. Her father was absent about his many occu-
pations, and she was just going out to walk with her
younger sisters on the Green on the banks of the Clyde.
She said they were pleasant walks, and perhaps as a
stranger I should like to see them. To which I readily
assented, and this was my second introduction to, and
my first walk with, my future wife. She was in the habit
of walking here frequently with her sisters early in the
morning, their residence being close upon the Green.
We met there once or twice afterwards before I returned
to Manchester ; and at parting she said, when I came
again to Glasgow she would be glad to see me.
T During this visit to Glasgow 1 had extended our
business connexions with the Scotch manufacturers, who
were previously familiar with my name, from its being
printed on every bundle or package of yarn sold to them
from Mr. Drinkwater's factory while I had the superin-
tendence of his manufactures, ^nd this was a favourable
introduction for me, and facilitated my success, to the
surprise of my Manchester and London partners. \

My partners thought it would be useful for me to
make these journeys into Scotland half-yearly, as the
orders for our produce gradually increased, and a large
part of the " Chorlton cotton twist," as it was then called
by way of distinction, was purchased by the Glasgow
and Paisley manufacturers — the remainder was sold in
Manchester and other Lancashire towns.

Miss Spear had returned from her visit to Miss Dale,
and when I saw her she spoke much of the amiable and
good qualities of her kind Glasgow friend ; said very
much in her favour, and of her position ; — of the number
of young men in and around Glasgow who were desirous
of becoming her suitors ; — but that she had seen none
among them to whom she could give encouragement,
for she had not seen one that she could marry, among
the many who had made advances to solicit her affections.

ROBERT OWEN 65

Miss Dale, she said, thought many of them looked to her
expected fortune. As I was now about to return to
Scotland, she requested I would convey a letter for her
to her friend, which I willingly promised to deliver on
my arrival in Glasgow. Letters at that time were
rather an expensive luxury between friends residing at a
distance. The penny postage had not then been thought
of, and there was much private letter-carrying between
friends. It is to be hoped, from the success of the inland
penny postage, that it will become general over sea and
land, to facilitate universal intercourse, so as gradually
to destroy the idea of foreign, not only in word but in
.feeling, in order that the family of man may become one
in interest, language, and feeling, over the earth, — this
being now the evident ultimate object of society, and
the means to hasten it being accomplished by the dis-
covery of the electric telegraph. .

Upon my arrival the second time at Glasgow, I called
and presented Miss Spear's letter to Miss Dale, which
she received, and read with much apparent pleasure.
Mr. Dale was again attending on some of the many
branches of his business, and I had not yet seen him.
I forget how it occurred, — but a walk upon the Green was
proposed, and I accompanied Miss Dale and her sisters
to the banks of the Clyde. The walk appeared to be
enjoyed by the parties, and from some of them it fell
out that, if the morning was fine, they were to walk out
there early the next day.

These morning walks occurred often while I continued
in Glasgow, and somehow or other the same parties
almost always met in these excursions ; and when I
had to return to Manchester I was requested by Miss
Dale to convey her answer back to Miss Spear— which
I did.

This second visit to Glasgow I found was begmnmg to
create other feelings than those of mere business. As I
was now established as a partner in one of the most re-
spectable firms in Manchester, and with every appearance
of being successful, I felt inclined to look out for a wife.
But I was yet a novice, and backward in forming acquaint-

5

66 THE LIFE OF

ance with women, and was much too sensitive in my
feehngs to make any progress with them except I re-
ceived encouragement to overcome my diffidence. At
this period I was living as a bachelor in Chorlton Hall,
an old mansion lately occupied by Madame Minchall, the
former proprietor of the Chorlton estate, which was now
laid out for streets, and to become, as it is now, a large
town annexed to Manchester. At some distance lived
one of the most wealthy and respectable families, in
which were three or four daughters, but no sons. The
eldest, at this a time a beautiful, well-educated, and
highly accomplished young lady of seventeen, was the
admiration of every one, and was eagerly sought after
by the young men of the first families, and hers was one
of the oldest established in and around Manchester.
I often saw this young lady at church, and occasionally
at public concerts, which v/ere then frequently given in
Manchester, and no one could see her without admiring
her for her beauty and her manners, which were fascinat-
ing to all. The position of her family was so far in
advance beyond any pretensions which I then had in
society, that to become known to her was out of the
question, and to think of such an act of presumption
never entered my head, for I was then far too diffident
of my own powers and position. One day, however,
when I happened to be at home in Chorlton Hall, two
ladies, — an elderly one and a young one, — called to
request to be permitted to see the old garden belonging
to this old mansion, — to which, of course, I readily
assented, and I conducted them through the walks.
These visitors were the lady alluded to and her aunt. I
was too timid and bashful to enter into conversation
with them, and too unsuspecting to imagine any other
object than the one mentioned, — and with the utmost
simplicity and deference allowed them to depart as they
came, and certainly much disappointed with the result
of their visit to one so stupid as I must have appeared,
for there was not the slightest indication of gallantry in
anything I said or did. In fact, to imagine any other
object in their visit, except to .see the garden, never for

ROBERT OWEN 67

a moment occurred to me. I learned, too late afterwards,
that this young lady had been favourably impressed with
my character, and that she had for some time preferred
me to all the many suitors who were anxious to obtain
lier hand. I never knew or suspected these feelings in
my favour, not even after this visit to me ; and so back-
ward was I at this period, that I did not consider I was
entitled by it to an introduction to her or her family.
That connexion, which I might have obtained had I
then possessed sufficient knowledge of the world and
sufficient self-confidence to have sought it, would have
been well adapted to have met and satisfied all the feelings
of my nature. But it was not to be, — circumstances
were opposed to it, and another destiny was awaiting
me.

Shortly after this occurrence, a house well built and
devised was erected by a wealthy Manchester merchant,
who imported mahogany from Honduras, and from which
were made his doors and window frames, and the principal
rooms were supplied with plate glass. This house had
a large walled garden and pleasure-ground. It was then
about two miles out of Manchester, — although it is now
surrounded by a large and populous town. To this
liouse the owner gave the name of Greenheys, and it was
just finished complete in every part, at an expense of
live thousand pounds, when the owner died, and left a
widow and many children, — and not one of the family
occupied it for a day. The house was to be sold, and
being large, it could be easily divided to accommodate
a family in one division, and myself in another part of it ;
giving me very complete bachelor accommodations ; and
a Mr. Marshall and myself made the purchase of it, and
so divided it. I removed from Chorlton Hall, and occu-
pied Greenheys for two years, having two elderly married
persons to take care of the house, the garden, and stable.
Thus I lived for two years before my marriage, and I
was very comfortable as a bachelor. One of my habits
at that period was peculiar. The old housekeeper came
always after breakfast to know wliat I would have for
dinner, my reply was " an apple dumpling," — which she

68 THE LIFE OF

made in great perfection, — " and anything else you
" like " ; and this practice was uniform as long as I
remained unmarried. My attention was devoted to
business and study, and I could not be troubled to think
about the details of eating and drinking.

Between my second and third visit to Glasgow I
occasionally saw Miss Spear, and on one of my visits to
her she asked what I thought of her Glasgow friend, Miss
Dale. I said she appeared to me, from the little oppor-
tunity that I had of seeing her in our walks around the
Green of Glasgow, in company with her younger sisters,
to be a very kind and amiable young lady. She then
told me her father was very religious, being at the head
of a sect of Independents, and that he had the charge of
about forty churches in various parts of Scotland, and
preached every Sunday to his congregation in Glasgow,
That he had been one of the Glasgow magistrates, and
that he was much respected far and near, — having
extensive concerns in different parts of Scotland. That
Mrs. Dale died when Miss Dale was twelve years of age,
and from that period she had had charge of her sisters
and of the family. That she ^ was an extraordinarily
good young person, and was beloved by all who knew
her. Miss Spear added, " I could tell you a secret worth
" knowing to you, — or at least it would be so to ninety-
" nine out of a hundred, if they knew Miss Dale as well
" as I do. But unless I thought you were as deeply
" interested about her as I think you are, and must be,
" I could not reveal it to you, and I do not know whether
" I should disclose it now to you, or not, — and yet I
" think it would be for the happiness of both that you
"should know it." "Pray," I said, "tell me this
" secret — for I feel much interested in knowing it, and
" more especially after what you have just expressed."
" Well then, as I am sure you will make no improper
" use of it, I will tell you. It is now I think about a year
" since you met Miss Dale walking with me near the Cross
" of Glasgow, when I detained you talking some time,
" and Miss Dale offered, as my friend, to give you an
" introduction to her uncle to show you the mills and

ROBERT OWEN 69

" the Falls of the Clyde." " I remember it well," I said.
" for 1 was struck with her amiable manner and kindness
" to a stranger." " When we parted," continued Miss
Spear, " she asked me who you were, and all respecting
" you that I knew, and when I had satisfied her inquiries,
" she said, ' I do not know how it is — ^but if ever I marry,
" ' that is to be my husband.' I tell you this because I
" know you will make only a proper use of it. You have
" seen her several times since, and can judge whether
" she retains the same feeHngs for you. But I know she
" has since that time refused several offers of marriage
" that would have had her father's consent." I thanked
Miss Spear for her very gratifying information to me, and
assured her I should use it only with the view of pro-
moting the happiness of both. This information induced
me to look decidedly to Scotland for a wife. Without
this knowledge I do not think I should have ventured
to think of Miss Dale for a wife. Her father's religious
character, his high standing in society, and my not
knowing him, would have deterred me from aspiring
to such a position as to become his son-in-law. And now
I thought there was little chance of overcoming the
difficulties which I saw in my way, even should I succeed
in gaining Miss Dale's consent. I had, however, to call
upon her with a letter and message from Miss Spear.
I was kindly welcomed again to Scotland by her, — but
her father was not yet at home. I found the morning
walks on the banks of the Clyde were continued as usual,
and upon this visit I often joined the party, and found I
was not avoided. The younger sisters began to allow
Miss Dale and myself to walk and talk a little apart from
them, — and as there were four of them, they were seen
sometimes before and sometimes behind us. During
these walks I learned that Mr. Dale wished to retire from
business, as he was advancing in years, and had no son
to succeed him. He hnd had one, but he had died young.
He now wished to sell the New Lanark establishment,
finding it not managed with the success that he had
expected, and as improvements were making in new
establishments over the kingdom, which increased the

70 THE LIFE OF

competition in the business, which he was afraid he could
not long contend against.

By degrees I ventured to ask Miss Dale if her affections
were engaged, and she frankly said they were not. But
when I asked her permission to become her suitor, and
her consent to receive me as her lover, she said, whatever
might be her own feelings on a subject of so much im-
portance to her happiness, she had little expectation
that her father could be induced to give his consent to a
stranger, whom he had never seen, and of whom perhaps
he had never heard. That he was so good a man and so
kind a father, that she should never marry without his
consent, and she then saw no prospect that it could be
attained, and therefore she thought she should never
marry, — for she felt convinced he would never force
or wish her to marry against her inclination, as she had
already discovered. " But," she added, " if you can
" find the means to overcome my father's objections, it
" would go far to remove any I may now have, to the
" request you have made."

I could not ask more ; but I was fairly placed in a
dilemma. I had never seen Mr. Dale, and I was un-
known to him. I knew not that he had ever heard my
name mentioned. I was now fairly in love, and deeply
so, from the open and frank manner in which my feelings
had been met. Love is a wonderful suggestor of means
to overcome difficulties. I was thrown entirely upon
my own resources in this matter. " You must find the
" means to obtain my father's consent, or you can never
" obtain mine." Such was Miss Dale's decision, — and
how was this to be accomplished ? To me it appeared,
day after day, as I thought upon it, a difficulty not to
be overcome. I knew not how, in the first place, to
obtain a proper introduction. At length it occurred to
me that I might make a pretence of inquiring whether a
report I had heard of his desire to sell the New Lanark
mills was true, and if it were true, on what conditions he
would part with them. This was a happy thought that
occurred to me, and I called upon him at his counting-
house of general business. He received me coldly, and I

ROBERT OWEN 71

thought suspiciously, and he requested to know my
business. I said it was reported in Glasgow that he
wished to dispose of the New Lanark mills, and I called
Lo know if it was so, and the terms on which he would
offer them if the report were true. I was now about
twenty-seven years of age, and young looking for my years,
and he said, yet looking suspiciously — " You cannot want
" to purchase them — you are too young for such a task."
I said — " I am connected in partnership with older
" heads, and with men having large capitals, and we are
" already largely in the cotton spinning trade in Man-
" Chester." This aroused his attention, and he then
entered more fully into conversation. He said— ^
" Have you seen New Lanark ? " I replied that I had
taken a very general view of the mills, without looking
into the details of the estabhshment. " I would recom-
" mend you," he said, " to go and examine it, and return
" to Manchester, and make your report to your partners,
" and if they should have any desire to become the owners
" of it, I shall be prepared to enter into a negotiation
" with them for the whole of the property." I thought
by his manner that he did not think me in earnest, but as
I received his authority to examine the establishment
thoroughly, I posted from Glasgow to New Lanark, a
distance of nearly thirty miles, and on which at that
time there were three toll-bars at high rates. I had left
Glasgow without small change, and had only guineas
and half guineas with me. Sovereigns had not been
introduced, and scarcely any gold coin ; for when at the
first toll-gate I presented a half guinea for change, the
toll-man turned it over and over, and looked at it as
though he had never seen one before, and said, " Have
you no notes ? " The currency of Scotland at this
period was in notes of their local banks. I replied,
" No — and the half guinea is the smallest change I have."
"Then I will trust you until you return." "But." I
said, " I am not sure of returning this way." " I will
take the chance of that, rather than take money I do
not know anything about. I do not understand gold
money." The same occurred at the second and third

It

72 THE LIFE OF

gate, and as a stranger I thus passed free of toll, an
alternative which was preferred by the toll-men, to
taking the half guinea, and I believe not one of them had
ever seen a gold coin. I concluded I had come into a
very primitive district. '

I had informed Miss Dale before I left Glasgow of the
interview with her father, and of my proceeding to New
Lanark, and a correspondence was thus commenced.
On arriving in Manchester I informed my partners of
what had occurred in Scotland, but I had no expectation
that they would, at once, desire to enter into the nego-
tiation. One from each of the two firms with which I
'was connected proposed to accompany me, and im-
mediately to return to Glasgow. We came by New
Lanark, and my partners were much pleased with the
situation and with the general outline of the establish-
ment. We then proceeded to Glasgow. By this time
Mr. Dale had been informed by his daughter of what
had passed between us, but he was very adverse to our
views. He said I was a stranger of whom he knew
nothing— a land louper (meaning, I suppose, coming from
England to Scotland for a wif^), and he would not hear
of it. He wished to have an honest Scotchman to
succeed him, one that he knew something about, and
could trust. I had been with him on the pretence of
purchasing the mills at New Lanark, but he had no ex-
pectation that I could induce any parties to buy them,
who possessed sufficient means — etc., etc. I was in-
formed of this by Miss Dale, who said she thought it would
be useless to expect he could be induced to give his con-
sent, and as she would never marry without it, we had
better abandon the hope of it, and recommended me to
look out for a better wife in England.

Thus matters stood on the arrival of my partners Mr.
John Barton and Mr. John Atkinson, and myself, at
Glasgow. We waited on Mr. Dale — explained who wc
were, who we represented, and our object in calling
upon him. He was evidently taken by surprise, and
was pleased with our explanation, — for at that period
the houses of Borrodale and Atkinson in London, and

ROBERT OWEN 73

Messrs. Barton's in Manchester, stood very high in the
commercial world. He said he would make the necessary
inquiries, and would consider the subject by the next day,
when he would be glad to see us again. We called at his
hour of appointment, and he said — " I am now satisfied
" of your respectability " (he was himself at this time the
chief of two directors of the Bank of Scotland in Glasgow),
" and I am willing to treat with you for the land, village,
" and mills at New Lanark, with everything as the
" establishment now stands." We inquired the price at
which he valued this property. He said he was really
at a loss to put a value upon it. His half brother, and
Mr. William Kelley, managed it for him. He himself
was seldom there, and only for short periods, as his chief
business was in Glasgow. But he said, " Mr. Owen
" knows better than I do the value of such property
" at this period, and I wish that he would name what he
" would consider a fair price between honest buyers
" and sellers." I was somewhat surprised and non-
plussed at this reference to me, with all its responsible
consequences, taking into consideration the position of
all parties. My estimate of the establishment, from hav-
ing taken only the very general inspection of it which I
had had an opportunity of doing, was such, that I said,
" It appears to me, that sixty thousand pounds, payable
" at the rate of three thousand a year for twenty years,
" would be an equitable price between both parties."

Mr. Dale had been long known for the honest sim-
plicity of his character, and as such was universally
trusted and respected, and as a further proof of it, to
the surprise of my London and Manchester commercial
partners, he replied—" If you think so, I will accept the
" proposal as you have stated it, if your friends also
" approve of it." And equally to my surprise they said
they were willing to accept the terms ; and thus, in
these few words, passed the establishment of Now
Lanark from Mr. Dale into the hands of " The New Lanark
Twist Company." '

Little did I imagine when I first saw this establishment
in company with my friend from Preston, that I should

74 THE LIFE OF

ever become part proprietor and ultimately sole manager
of it.

This occurred in the summer of 1797, about six years •
after I had commenced the management of Mr. Drink-
water's factory, and when I was about twenty-eight
years of age.

Here was a new combination of circumstances-, which
had not been at all under my control, but which in their*
further progi'ess has produced extraordinary results to
myself and others, and which will produce yet far more
extraordinary results to the entire population of the
world.

There were two gardens in the centre of the village of
New Lanark, and in these gardens two large cottage
houses, one occupied in summer by Mr. Dale's children,
and the other by the managers of the mills. At the time
of the purchase, Miss Dale and her sisters and servants
were occupying this house, and her uncle and aunt and
their family occupied the one near in the adjoining garden.
The new firm were to take immediate possession of the
entire establishment, and Mr. Dale was going to send for
his daughters to leave their summer quarters at once,
and to return to Glasgow. We all objected to this, and
requested they might keep possession of the house to
their usual time of returning for the season ; and as I
was to take possession of the mills and premises, I re-
mained at the Clydesdale Hotel in Old Lanark, which
was only one mile distant, until their usual time of
removing. To this Mr. Dale assented after some
preliminary opposition. The family thus remained for
about six weeks, when Mr. Dale sent for them to return,
learning, I suppose, that Miss Dale and I had under this
arrangement frequent opportunities of seeing each
other, — and with her sisters we often enjoyed walks
among the beautiful scenery on the banks of the Clyde,
and our time was thus spent very much to our satis-
faction. Mr. Dale, however, continued averse to any
thoughts of our union, and this he expressed very strongly
after the return to Glasgow of the young ladies. There
were however two warm friends of mine in Glasgow,

ROBERT OWEN 75

who had great influence with Mr. Dale. These were
the co-director of the Royal Bank of Scotland with Mr.
Dale — a Mr. Scott Moncrief, and his lady, two elderly
and much respected persons, who were much attached
to Mr. Dale and his family, and were near neighbours.
These became Miss Dale's confidants in our affairs.

Before she parted from me at New Lanark, she said
she never would marry against her father's consent, but
she had made up her mind that she would remain un-
married unless he could be induced to consent to accept
me for his son-in-law. I had reason to believe that on
her return to Glasgow she stated so much to her father,
who was and had always been a most affectionate and
indulgent parent to all his children, and to her, being
several years older than the others, more especially.
I had often to return to Glasgow to see Mr. Dale re-
specting the change of proprietorship of the establish-
ment, and to learn many things connected with it and
the parish and county affairs, and this brought us often
into business communication. His cold and distant
manner to me gradually diminished, until he began to
be more at his ease when we met, and at length he
relaxed so far in his manner as to receive me pleasantly,
and after a little time in a friendly and almost cordial
manner. I discovered that Mr. and Mrs. Scott Moncrief
were daily using their influence in our favour, and
at length they overcame all Mr. Dale's objections to
the union, and our marriage was fixed for the 30th of
September.

In the meantime I was becoming daily more at home
with Mr. Dale, and he began to receive me at his house
cordially and with increasing confidence. My property
by this time had accumulated to three thousand pounds.
Mr. Dale proposed to give three thousand with his daugh-
ter, and that I should settle three hundred a year upon
her and her children in case of my death, under the
supposition that my property would now annually
increase. I made no bargain on this occasion, but left it
to be arranged by Mr. Dale and Mr. Scott Moncrief, for
I had offered to take Miss Dale without any fortune.

76 THE LIFE OF

These matters being arranged, before the day of our
marriage arrived, Mr. Dale had become as much satisfied
and as much pleased with the idea of our union, as though
he had at no time had any ojection to it. All his
prejudices had been overcome, and I was gradually
becoming a favourite with him.

Our marriage took place in Mr. Dale's house, in
Charlotte Street, near to the Green of Glasgow, where
our early courtship commenced. The ceremony, if
ceremony it could be called, was according to the marriage
rites of Scotland, and surprised me not a little. We were
to be married by the Reverend Mr. Balfour — an old
friend of Mr. Dale's, although he was of the regular Scotch
Church, and Mr. Dale was at the head of a dissenting
or independent sect.

When we were all met on the morning of our marriage,
waiting for the ceremony to commence, Mr. Dale was
there to give his daughter to me, and the younger sisters
of Miss Dale for her bridesmaids. Mr. Balfour requested
Miss Dale and me to stand up, and asked each of us if
we were willing to take the other for husband or wife,
and each simply nodding assent, he said, without one
word more — " Then you are married, and you may sit
" down," — and the ceremony was all over.

I observed to Mr. Balfour that it was indeed a short cere-
mony. He said it was usually longer, adding, " I generally
' ' explain to the young persons their duties in the marriage
" state, and often give them a long exhortation. But I
" could not presume to do this with Mr. Dale's children
" while he lived and was present, knowing that he must
" have previously satisfied himself in giving them such
" advice as he deemed necessary and sufficient." I bowed
assent, and said, as he was satisfied that it was all right,
I was equally so, and was obliged to him for his compli-
ment to Mr. Dale and ourselves. Mr. Dale's carriage
was in waiting to convey us the first stage on our road to
Manchester, and as soon as breakfast was over we set
out, accompanied by Miss Dale's maid, who was to be
taken with her to England. The ministers in Scotland
who marry any parties usually receive some present

ROBERT OWEN 77

from the immediate friends of the parties married, or
from the parties themselves. On this occasion I in-
quired of Mr. Dale what was the custom, and what in our
:ase would be deemed proper. He said he would see
to that business with Mr. Balfour ; and we learned
ifterwards that he gave him a full suit of clothes, hat
and all, of the finest description for a minister, and
which became his best suit as long as he lived, — such
especial care did he take of Mr. Dale's highly valued
present, although they were ministers of different sects of
religion.

After the first stage we left Mr. Dale's carriage to
return, and we then posted to Manchester, over very
bad roads. Mail coaches had not yet been estabhshed,
and the old line then travelled was a very different one
to the line which now communicates between Glasgow
and Carlisle. On arriving in Manchester and passing
through the Chorlton district to go to Greenheys, my
then residence, we had to pass in sight of a small and
low building erected by the well-known Mr. Henry for
the manufacture of his concentrated essence of vinegar,
and I pointed it out as soon as in sight, there being no
other buildings near, as our future residence, — and wished
lo know from my new wife what she thought of it. She
evidently did not expect to find that I lived in a house
with that common appearance, and she said she thought
the house I had described to her was different. The old
servant was, I perceived, disappointed that her young
mistress was to be no better accommodated. After we
had passed it they perceived I had not been serious in
describing my residence, and we soon drove into the
grounds of Greenheys, and entering into the house
through a part well contrived and neatly arranged as a
greenhouse, and the interior being well constructed and
furnished, and nicely arranged, both my wife and her
servant were uncommonly well pleased. And here we
passed our honeymoon.

I had arranged all matters as well as I could at New
Lanark before I left it, under the same management as
when Mr. Dale had given it to us, and I expected they

78 THE LIFE OF

would have carried it on with ordinary success, — but
we soon found that there was httle cordiahty between the
two managers, and that they were httle capable of con-
ducting such a concern in the manner we wished and
expected. I had retained the direction of the Chorlton
Mill, and Mr. Thomas Atkinson kept the accounts up to
this period. It was now thought it would be necessary
for me to return to Scotland and take the immediate
direction of the New Lanark establishment and of
our Scotch business generally ; and that Mr. Thomas
Atkinson, assisted occasionally by the other partners,
should undertake the management of the Chorlton Mill
and Lancashire business. And thus it was mutually
agreed upon, and I returned with my wife and servant ,
to Glasgow in three months after our marriage, and we
were warmly and affectionately received by Mr. Dale,
and I entered upon the government of New Lanark about
the first of January 1800.
f I say " government," — for my intention was not to
be a mere manager of cotton mills, as such mills were at
this time generally managed ; but to introduce principles
^ in the conduct of the people, which I had successfully
commenced with the workpeople in Mr. Drinkwater's
factory ; and (to change the conditions of the people,
who, I saw, w^re surrounded by circumstances having
an injurious influence upon the character of the entire
population of New Lanark) 1

I had now, by a course 01 events not under my control,
the groundwork on which to try an experiment long
wished for, but little expected ever to be in my power
to carry into execution.

On commencing my task I found it full of
formidable obstacles. The fonner managers had
acquired their own views of managing. They had old
notions and habits, all directly opposed to mine,
■ and from these parties I expected little assistance, ( The
people were surrounded by bad conditions, ' and
these bad conditions had powerfully acted upon them
to ^nisfnrm their chcuacters and conduct) / 1 soon
perceived that there would be much to undo and

ROBERT OWEN 79

much to do, before I tould obtain the results which I
intended to acconiplisliy TThe people had been collected
hastily from any place from whence they could be in-
duced to come, and the great majority of them were
idle, intemperate, dishonest, devoid of truth and pre-
tenders to religion, which they supposed would cover
ind excuse all their shortcomings and immoral proceed-
ings. My first object was to ascertain all the errors
against which I had to contend, and as I investigated
each department, I thought there would be no termina-
tion to the changes required. I soon found that a
le construction of the whole establishment would be
necessary for my views, and for the pecuniary suc-

• ss of the concern. I therefore commenced cautiously
laying the groundwork for the intended changes, and I
vvished to make the old superintendents of the different
departments my agents for this purpose. But I soon
lound that they were wedded to their own notions and
mcient prejudices, and that for new measures it was
necessary to have new men ; for the old ones preferred
to leave their situations, rather than be engaged in a
work of such reform as I contemplated, which they said
was impracticable. And to them it was so ; for they
had no conception of the principle on which I proposed
to act, and by which I intended to govern the popula-

lon. It is from this same ignorance that the public
Qow think my views impracticable.

I soon found I had every bad habit and practice of
the people to overcome. They were intemperate and
unmoral, with very few exceptions, throughout the
.'/hole establishment. The brother of one of the chief
anagers was in the frequent practice of taking what is
^ ailed a" spree"— that is being intoxicated day after day
lor weeks together, without attending to his occupation

luring the whole period. ' Theft was very general, and
u as carried on to an enormous and ruinous extent, and

Mr. Dale's property had been plundered in all directions.

nd had been almost considered public property. The
population had been collected from anywhere and any-
iiow, for it was then most difficult to induce any sober.

8o THE LIFE OF

well-doing family to leave their home to go into cotton
mills as then conducted.J

Knowing by this time the influence of circumstances
over human nature in every part of the world, my first
attention was to discover the evil conditions existing
among the people, and how in the shortest time they
could be superseded by better. There were two ways
before me, by which to govern the population. First,
by contending against the people, who had to contend
against the evil conditions by which, through ignorance,
they were surrounded ; and in this case I should have
had continually to find fault with all, and to keep them
in a state of constant ill-will and irritation. — to have
many of them tried for theft, — to have some imprisoned
and transported, and at that period to have others con-
demned to death, — for in some cases I detected thefts to
a large amount ; there being no check upon any of their
proceedings. This was the course which had ever been
the practice of society. Or, secondly, I had to consider
these unfortunately placed people, as they really were,
the creatures of ignorant and vicious circumstances,
who were made to be what ;they were by the evil con-
ditions which had been made to surround them, and for
which alone society, if any party, should be made
responsible ; andf instead of tormenting the individuals,
— imprisoning and transporting some, hanging others,
and keeping the popi^ation in a state of constant ir-
rational excitement,vn[^ad_to c hangg,! h ese-evil con-
ditionsfor good ones, and_iHus,-iaJiEe4ue order of nature,
■^ a(;cordin^t_ojt&iLrij±aiiging4aMt6y4o-supersede the inferior
gjid bad chajrnctersj rrpnted by inffirinr anrTT^ad^ con-
ditions^by_sujgierior-an4 -good- Gha,i;actersjto be created
-B^CsulieriQr-aiid-goed-eeRditiQns. j jAnd _t h is TsZaoai-the
coursewhichfoi:thp.happines?;oia.ll fihonld beunjversally
adopted inpractice, i

TIiis~lafTer~mode required a knowledge of human
nature, and of the science of the influence of circum-
stances over it, with illimitable patience, forbearance,
and determination. But loiih these conditions certain
ultimate success would inevitably follow. While the

,p

I

ROBERT OWEN 8i

first mode could not ensure success if persevered in to
the end of time, — and so long as it is continued must
keep society in never-ending varied confusion, counter-
action, and opposing feelings.

But from what source could the knowledge of human
nature, the science of the influence of the circumstances
over it, with illimitable patience, forbearance, and de-
termination, be obtained ? — seeing that these qualities
combined had remained unknown during the past
history of the human race. This is ijUlg^great secret
worth knc\wing, and which has been so long hrddenTroni
the world. ] \

From one source only could the secret be derived ; — )
that is, from the discovery of the knowledge f that the /
|i" character of each of our race is^c^rmed by Go^ or
**nature and by society ; and that itisJIupa5sible^that-^^'
^ any human being could or can form his own qualities

' '. or charactHr:" ' - -,5^ ?7r~]v^~~~7!rjT^Trr7r7^~T'^ -^'"

This knowledge I had now acquired by the gradual 0^^
teaching of nature, through experience and reflection,

; forced upon me by the circumstances through which I
had passed ; and it was now to be ascertained whether
it had given me the patience, forbearance, and d^

I termination to proceed successfully in my task, — for( I

ihad decided to govern the New Lanark population
according to these new views,y— that is, on the second
mode stated. For this purposed had to lay my plans

' deep and wide, and to combine them with measures
to ensure profits from the estaJilisJimeilt_sui&dcnt to
satisfy m^lcQitim'ercia 1 parinersy and at first not to do
too nluch, so as to alarm their prejudices or those of

I the public.

Mr. James Dale and Mr. Kelley were incompetent to
comprehend my views, or to assist me in my plans.
They both therefore left New Lanark, and returned to
Glasgow, to commence different businesses, each for
tiimself . Application was now made to me for a situation
by the Mr. Humphreys whom I had recommended to

1 Mr. Drinkwater to succeed me. Mr. Humphreys could

5 !iot keep up to the quality of yarns or to the general
6

82 THE LIFE OF

management of the establishment as I had left it to him.
Mr. Drinkwater had discovered that Mr. Oldknow's
pecuniary position was not what he had anticipated,
and therefore the match between Mr. Oldknow and Miss
Drinkwater did not take place. Mr. Drinkwater be-
came dissatisfied with the business, sold the factory,
and Mr. Humphreys lost his situation. I engaged him
to manage the machinery under my direction, and
retained him for some years, until he was tempted to
leave my service for what he deemed a better position,
but which proved his ruin.

Mr. Dale knew little about cotton spinning, having
always left the management of his various mills, (for he
had other cotton mills besides New Lanark) to such
managers as he could procure ; and by this time im-
provements were taking place in machinery, which
would have soon distanced the state in which Mr. Dale's
managers kept his various establishments. He had one
at Newton-Douglas, in partnership with Sir William
Douglas, — one in Ayrshire, at Catrine, in partnership
with Mr. Alexander of Ballochmyle, — another in Perth-
shire,— and a fourth in the far north, in partnership with
Mr. George Macintosh, the father of the inventor of the
india-rubber " Macintoshes " and other manufactures
from that material. I advised him to dispose of these
as soon as he could meet with purchasers for them, and
he followed my advice.

I had now to commence in earnest the great experiment
which was to prove to me, by practice, the truth or error
of the principles which had been forced on my con-
victions as everlasting principles of truth, and from
which all great and permanent good in practice must
proceed — to commence the most important experiment
for the happiness of the human race that had yet been
instituted at any time in any part of the world. This
was, to ascertain whether the character of man could be
better formed, and society better constructed and
governed, by falsehood, fraud, force, and fear, keeping
him in ignorance and slavery to superstition, — or by
truth, charity, and love, based on an accurate know-

ROBERT OWEN 83

ledge of human nature, and by forming all the instUu-
tions of society in accordance with tjiat knowledge. \ It
was to ascertain, in fact, whether by replacing evil
conditions by good, man might not be relieved from
evil, and transformed into an intelligent, rational, and
good being : — whether the misery in which man had
been and was surrounded, from his birth to his death, /\» d
could be changed into a life of goodness and happiness,
by surrounding him through life with good and superior
conditions only. 5uch were the impressions made upon
inxjiiiad of ihe importanrp.of tlie_task which I was abou t
ioj2Ji6£Xl2ikej and from which noopposition, no obstacles
or discouragements, could ever divert me.

When to my friends and nearest connexions I men-
tioned that my intentions were to commence a new system
of management on principles of justice and kindness,
and gradually to abolish punishment in governing the
population, — they, one and all, smiled at what they called
my simplicity, in imagining I could succeed in such a
visionary scheme ; and they strongly urged me not to
attempt such a hopeless impossibility. My mind, how-
ever, was prepared for the task, and to encounter what-
ever difficulties might arise ; and I was much encouraged
to proceed by the success which I had experienced with
my mode of governing the populations in Mr. Drink-
water's factories.

The population of New Lanark at this period con-
sisted of about 1300, settled in the village as families,
and between 400 and 500 pauper children, procured from
})arishes, whose ages appeared to be from five to ten, —
but saici to be from seven to twelve. These children
were by Mr. Dale's directions well lodged, fed, and
clothed, and there was an attempt made to teach them
to readr and to teach some of the oldest to write, after
the business of the long day was over. But this kind

f instruction, when the strength of the children was
- xhausted, only tormented them, without doing any real
jTQod, — for I found that none of them understood any-
thing they attempted to read, and many of them fell
asleep during the school hours.

^

g4 THE LIFE OF

The instructor was a good schoolmaster, on the old
mode of teaching, and kind and considerate to the
children, but what could he do with 400 or 500 of them
under such circumstances ? The whole system, although
most kindly intended by Mr. Dale, was wretchedly bad,
and the estabhshment had been constructed and managed
by ordinary minds, accustomed only to very primitive
proceedings, i I determined therefore that the engage-
ments respecting the children, made by Mr. Dale with
the parishes, should run out ; that no more pauper
children should be received ; that the village houses and
streets should be improved, and new and better houses
erected to receive new families, to supply the place of
the pauper children ; and that the interior of the mills
should be rearranged, and the old machinery replaced
by new. But these changes were to be made gradually,
and to be effected by the profits of the establishment. ^

My first task was to make arrangements to supersede
the evil conditions with which the population was sur-
rounded, by good conditions. And as soon as society
can be made to think rationally on a true foundation, to
replace inferior by superior conditions will be found to
be the task which society has to learn, and in good earnest
to commence in practice. In fact, this is the great
lesson which mankind has now to acquire and to put
into execution over the world. For, with the certainty of
a law of nature, — as are the circumstances or conditions
with which man is surrounded through life, so must he
become. Surround him with evil circumstances or
conditions, — and his thoughts and conduct must become
evil ; while when surrounded through life with good
conditions only, his thoughts and conduct must be
good. The problem for man now to solve, therefore, is —
" What are evil, and what are good, conditions ? And
" how are the evil to be superseded by the good, in peace,
" beneficially for all, and with universal consent ? "
And when the first principle on which society should be
based shall be understood and consistently applied to
practice, the problem will be easily solved and carried
into execution.

ROBERT OWEN 85

The profession of religion, and attention to its forms
and ceremonies, which were strictly observed, were the
foundation on which Scotch character and society were
formed. The profession was, and is, most essential to
enable anyone to become respectable, as it is called, in
any part of Scotland ; and this profession of religion,
with attention to its forms, was deemed by many all
that was necessary. Sobriety and correct conduct
were in much less estimation.

But the character of the population of the world, in
consequence of its having been based, under all its varied
forms on superstition and on the false notion that each
forms his own qualities and powers of feeling, thinking,
willing, and acting, is a sham and a falsehood ; and in
consequence, a surface, artificial, and irrational character
is alone to be seen from east to west and from north to
south over the globe. Who shall overcome this universal
erior and great evil ?

vThis experiment at New Lanark was the first commence-
ment of practical measures with a view to change the
fundamental principle on which society has heretofore
been based from the beginning ; and no experiment could
be more successful in proving the truth prtTiejjnflciple
^atlhe character is formed for and not /?v the individual j
and that society now possesses the most ample means
and power to well-form the character of every one. by
reconstructing society on its true principle, and making
it consistent with that fundamental principle in all its
departments and divisions. As soon as the authorities
of the world can be convinced of the incalculable ad-
vantages which will arise in perpetuity to all, from basing
society on its true principle, there will be littL difficulty
; in creating a good and valuable character for all, and in
building up society with good conditions only.

But I had to commence my experiment, not only in
opposition to the disbelief in the truth of the funda-
mental principle on which I was about to found all my
proceedings, but with the strongest prejudices in favour
of the truth of the principle which I intended to disprove
and overcome. The evil conditions which I had to con-

86 THE LIFE OF

tend against were the ignorance, superstition, and con-
sequent immoral conduct and bad habits of the great
majority of the population ; the long day's work which
they had to undergo ; the inferior qualities and high price
of everything which they had to purchase for their own
use ; the bad arrangements in their houses for rearing
and training their children from their birth through in-
fancy and childhood ; and their prejudices against an
English manufacturer becoming a hard taskmaster, as
they imagined I was going to be, because they saw I
was going to adopt what they called new-fangled
measures.

In addition to these evil conditions around the work-
people, I found it necessary, as the foundation of all
future success, to make the establishment not only ,
self-supporting, but also productive of sufficient surplus
profits to enable me to effect the changes to the improved
conditions which I contemplated. My partners were all
commercial men, and expected a profit in addition to
interest for their capital. I had therefore to readjust
the whole business arrangements, and to make great
alterations in the building, and gradually to change the
whole machinery of the mills.

The workpeople w^ere systematically opposed to every
change which I proposed, and did whatever they could
to frustrate my object. For this, as it was natural for
them to dislike new measures and all attempts to change
their habits, I was prepared, and I made due allowance
for these obstructions. My intention was to gain their
confidence, and this, from their prejudices to a stranger
from a foreign country, as at this time the working class
of the Scotch considered England to be, was extremely
difficult to attain. My language was naturally different
from their Lowland Scotch and the Highland Erse, for
they had a large mixture of Highlanders among them.
I therefore sought out the individuals who had the most
influence among them from their natural powers or
• position, and to these I took pains to explain what were
my intentions for the changes I wished to effect. 1
explained that they were to procure greater permanent

ROBERT OWEN 87

advantages for themselves and their children, and re-
quested that they would aid me in instructing the people,
and in preparing them for the new arrangements which
I had in contemplation.

By these means I began slowly to make an impression
upon some of the least prejudiced and most reasonable
among them ; but the suspicions of the majority, that
I onl}^ wanted, as they said, to squeeze as much gain
out of them as possible, were long continued. I had great
difficulty also in teaching them cleanly habits, and order
and system in their proceedings. Yet each year a sensible
general improvement was effected.

The retail shops, in all of which spirits were sold, were
great nuisances. All the articles sold were bought on
credit at high prices, to cover great risks. The qualities
were most inferior, and they were_ retailed out to the
workpeople at extravagant rates. : I arranged superior
stores and shops, from which to supply every article
of food, clothing, etc., which they required. I bought
everything with money in the first markets, and con-
tracted for fuel, milk, etc., on a large scale, and had the
whole of these articles of the best qualities supphed to
the people at the cost price. The result of this change
was to save them in their expenses full twenty-five per
cent., besides giving them the best qualities in every-
thing, instead of the most inferior articles, with which
alone they had previously been supplied.

The effects soon became visible in their improved
health and superior dress, and in the general comfort
of their houses.

This measure tended also to weaken their prejudices
against me. But it was long before the majority of the
people could be convinced that I was earnestly engaged
in measures to improve their permanent condition. At
length an event occurred which overcame their preju-
dices, and enabled me to gain their full confidence. We
were now (1806) receiving a large amount of our supply
of cotton from the United States, and in consequence of
diplomatic differences between their government and
ours, the United States laid an embargo on their own

88 THE LIFE OF

ports, and no cotton was allowed to be exported, and it
was not known how long this embargo might continue,
or to what ultimate consequences it might lead. The
prices of all kinds of cotton immediately advanced so
rapidly and so high, that the manufacturers of the
article were placed in a dilemma. The master spinners ]
had to determine whether to stop their machinery and
discharge their workpeople (which most of them did), or
to continue to work u]) the material at the high price it
had attained, and run the risk of a great and sudden fall
in the price of the raw material and of their manufactured
stock, should the embargo be removed. Some adopted
the one course, and some the other.

We were now spinners on a large scale, and to proceed
in our operations was most hazardous. To discharge
the workpeople, whom I then had more than half
trained to my wishes, and who, if I discharged them
from our employment, would have suffered great
privations, would be, as it appeared to me, cruel and
unjust. I therefore concluded to stop all the machinery,
retain the people, and continue to pay them their full
JiAvages for only keeping the machinery clean and in good
working condition. I continued to do this as long as
the embargo was maintained. It was four months before
the United States government terminated the embargo,
and during that period the population of New Lanark
received more than seven thousand pounds sterling for
their unemployed time, without a penny being deducted
from the full wages of anyone.

This proceeding won the confidence and the hearts of
the whole population, and henceforward I had no
obstructions from them in my progress of reform, which
I continued in all ways, as far as I thought my monied
partners would permit me to proceed, and indeed until
their mistaken notions stopped my further progress^

Soon after I left Manchester and was established as
the sole managing partner at New Lanark, proposals
were made to the Chorlton Twist Company, our Man-
chester firm, for the purchase of our Chorlton mills, and
the negotiation terminated by the sale of them to

ROBERT OWEN 89

Messrs. Birley and Hornby, our former Blackburn
customers, who yet retain them, having made con-
siderable additions to tht^m. Thus ended my com-
mercial interest in Manchester, more than half a century
ago ; and great and extraordinary have been the
changes in the town from that period to the present.
Few, if any, of its then leading men in commerce or the
professions are now living, and a new generation has
arisen who know me no I.

Some account of my friendship, partnership, and transac-
tions with the late celebrated Robert Fulton, the inventor
and^ introducer of the profitable steamboat into the
United States of North America.

This will be a proper place, before I take leave of
Manchester, for me to state some particulars respecting
my connexion with that ultimately ill-used man of
genius and high enterprise, Robert Fulton, who did so
much for his country, which did so little for him.

In 1794, Robert Fulton and myself were boarding
inmates at No. 8 Brazen Nose Street, Manchester. We
became friends, and he in confidence informed me, that
in prosecuting an invention which had occurred to him,
for more expeditiously and cheaply digging or raising
earth in forming canals, and in obtaining a patent for
the invention, he had expended all his funds, and he
knew not, except by disposing of part of the interest in
his patent, how to obtain more, for all his means and
credit were exhausted. He said there was a canal to be
constructed near Gloucester, and if I could supply him
with funds to go there and see the commissioners
appointed to carry it into execution, he might perhaps
succeed in obtaining a contract for digging a portion of
it, and might thus bring his new patent into notice
I' and profitable action, and he would give me half of
the interest in his invention, the success of which was
however very problematical. I supplied him with funds
.ind he went to Gloucester,

My first written communication from him is dated

90

THE LIFE OF

the 20th of November 1794, and is filled with curious
calculations respecting his new digging machine. His
first letter to me is dated the 26th of December 1794,
informing me of his intention to go to Gloucester about
the 1st of January 1795, giving additional calculations,
and suggesting new improvements in his machine, and
ending by saying — " I will send you a sketch and
" description after digesting the subject." And although
he was then in considerable pecuniary difficulties, to
show the buoyancy of his spirits, he concludes thus —
Please to write to me immediately, and let me know
how the improvement in the model succeeds. Present
my best respects to Mr. Moulson, and my volunteer
friend, Mr. Marsland, and his good lady. By ' volun-
' teer friend,' I do not mean that Mr. Marsland is, or
should be, a fensible, — but a volunteer, in the corps
of benevolence and unanimity, the principles of which
contributed much to my amusement, and which I
remember with so much pleasure. That all men may
be drilled to this glorious exercise, God of His infinite
mercy grant."

The next document in succession I find to be articles
of agreement of partnership between Mr. Fulton and
myself, which I give here in full as a curiosity to his
friends in the United States. These articles were as
follows : —

" Minutes of agreement made this seventeenth day of
December 1794, between Robert Fulton, of the city of
London, engineer, of the one part, and Robert Owen, of
Manchester, in the county of Lancaster, cotton manu-
facturer, of the other part.

" Whereas the said Robert Fulton hath lately invented
and obtained his Majesty's Royal Letters Patent for the
exclusive exercise for a term of fourteen years of a certain
machine for transferring boats and their cargoes to and
from higher levels and lower levels in and upon canal
navigations independent of locks, of which machine
thirty parts or shares (the whole into thirty-two parts
being divided) are now vested in the said Robert Fulton.

or

ROBERT OWEN 91

And also hath invented and shortly intends to make
application for letters patent for a certain other machine
for removing earth out of canals to the banks thereof in
cases of deep digging without the use of wheelbarrows,
the sole and whole property in which is now vested in
the said Robert Fulton. And whereas the said Robert
Fulton and Robert Owen have agreed to become co-
partners in the said machines and in the exercise thereof
at the time and upon the terms hereinafter mentioned,
that is to say : —

" That the said Robert Owen shall immediately ad-
vance to the said Robert Fulton the sum of sixty-five
pounds to be by him employed toward putting the said
machines in motion, and that when and as soon as the
said machine for removing earth shall clear two-pence
per cubic yard of the contracts for which it may be
■ engaged, or the machine for transferring boats shall
raise a five-ton boat to any height not exceeding two
hundred feet in ten minutes (the construction of which
shall not amount to half the sum annually expended in
locks), or previous to the execution before stated, at the
option of the said Robert Owen, the said Robert Fulton
and Robert Owen shall become co-partners and jointly
! interested in the said machines and in the whole benefit
• to arise from the working and use thereof for the tenn of
fourteen years, or until the expiration of the term hmited
or to be hmited in the said respective letters patent for
fthe exclusive exercise of the said machines in the pro-
portions following, that is to say —

" That the said Robert Fulton and Robert Owen shall
be entitled to the said earth-removing machine and to
the benefit thereof in equal proportions ; and that the
said Robert Fulton shah be entitled to fifteen of the said
thirty parts or shares of the said boat-raising machine
and the benefit to arise therefrom ; and the said Robert
Owen to the remaining fifteen shares thereof. And the
said Robert Fuhon shah at the commencement of the
said co-partnership, or as soon afterwards as the said
Robert Fulton shall be enabled so to do, by proper
assurances, as the counsel of the said Robert Owen shall

92 THE LIFE OF

advise, assign a proportionate part or share in the said
machines and in the letters patent already and hereafter
to be granted for the exercise thereof to the said Robert
Owen accordingly.

" That the said Robert Owen shall advance the sum
', of four hundred pounds, as the business may require, to
the said co-partnership, which shall be lodged in a bank
by the said parties, to be by them employed toward the
expense of completing and working the said machines
when and as the same shall be wanted.

" That an account shall be taken quarterly from the
date hereof, of the profits, expenditure, and loss arising
from the working of the said machines, and that in such
account the said Robert Owen shall have credit given
him for one half of the said sum of four hundred pounds,
and of all such other sums of money as he shall advance
(the said sum of sixty-five pounds only excepted), as a
debt owing by the co-partnership, and shall be paid the
same out of the first profits arising from the said business ;
and that then the profits shall be divided between the
said parties in the proportion before mentioned.

" That neither of the parties shall assign his share or
interest either in the said letters patent or in the profits
to arise from the exercise thereof, without the consent
of the other first had and obtained in writing.

"That the same Robert Fulton shall, from the date
hereof, and after the commencement of the said co-partner-
ship, to the end of the same, apply his whole time and
exertions in the said business ; but that the same Robert
Owen shall not be obhged so to do until one of the said
machines shall be put in motion to the effect herein-
before mentioned, at which time the said Robert Owen
shall likewise apply his whole time and exertions to
forward the same.

" That neither of the parties shall use the effects or
credit of the co-partnership, but for its sole benefit and
in the regular course of business.

" That any invention, speculation, or other business
which may suggest itself to either part}' during the said
co-partnership term, which may be likely to be pro-

J

ROBERT OWEN 93

iuctive of any advantage, shall be the joint property of
.he said parties.

"That neither of the parties shall during the said
:o-partnership engage in any other business or employ-
iient, undertaking or speculation, other than that of this
;o-partnership, without the consent of the other of them ;
ind in which case the said parties shall be jointly and
equally interested therein.

" That all notes, bills, bonds, and other securities for
noney shall be signed by both the said parties ; and if
lot so signed, shall be taken as given on the separate
iccount of the party giving the same ; except bills of
'xchange in the common course of business, which may
>e signed by one of the parties on behalf of both in the
aid firm of the said co-partnership.

" That the parties shall inform each other of all
natters relating to the co-partnership.

" That neither of the parties shall lend money to or
nake contracts with any person or persons whom the
)ther shall have forbidden to be connected with ; if he
loes, in one case he is to pay the sum lent to the cash of
he co-partnership, and in the other to bear the loss, if
my, on such contracts himself.

"That the expenses of all such journeys as are evi-
lently taken for the benefit of the co-partnership, and
ill other expenses and the losses of the business, if any,
hall be borne by the co-partnership ; and if deficient,
iy the parties themselves, in the same proportions in
. vhich the same parties are interested in the profits.

" That neither of the partners shall give bail for or
)ecome bound with any person without the other's
onsent in writing, nor do any act whereby the partner-
ihip may be prejudiced.

" That proper books of account shall be kept

"That all monies, bills, and notes shall on receipt be
entered in the cash book of the said co-partnershij).

" That a general account shall be taken at the end of

he said co-partnership or its dissolution ; and that then

'he parties shall pay their respective shares of the debts

I )wing by the partnership, and that the machines and

94 THE LIFE OF,

other slock shall be sold by public sale, and the amount
thereof divided between the said partners in the pro-
portions before mentioned.

" To give bonds to each other for the payment of
their respective shares of the debts.

" In case of the death of either party, the surviving
partner shall continue to carry on and conduct the said
business in what manner he shall think proper ; and in
case the deceased partner shall leave either a wife or
children, the survivor shall pay quarterly to the executors
or administrators of the deceased partner one moiety
of the profits arising from the said business during the
said term ; and in case the deceased partner shall not
leave either a wife or children, then that the surviving
partner shall pay to the executors or administrators of
the deceased partner only the fourth part of the said
clear profits payable as aforesaid.

" And at the expiration of the said co-partnership the
stock shall be pubhcly sold, and the money arising
therefrom divided between the surviving partner and
the executors or administrators of the deceased partner,
in proportions equal to their respective shares of the
profits in the cases last before stated.

" Robert Fulton, Robert Owen."

This took place during the interregnum between my
leaving Mr. Drinkwater and my commencement as a
partner in the Chorlton Twist Company in Manchester.

The next paper of Mr. Fulton's is an account of his
debt to a Mr. Thomas Lenning, which he requested me
to pay for him. Then follows a long letter from Mr.
Fulton to me, with new calculations and diagrams of
more improvements on his former invention, and con-
cluding— " When the rhino is gone, I will write to you."
Then follow seven letters in rapid succession, from the
14th of January to the 26th of February 1795, with new
calculations, various sketches of new machines and
improvements, and asking for more money.

He had had a previous unsettled contract with a Mr.
McNiven, a canal contractor, to whom he had requested

ROBERT OWEN 95

me to send a letter from him to Mr. McNiven, with
proposals for a settlement, but Mr. McNiven would not
agree to the conditions Mr. Fulton had proposed. I had
therefore to write to Mr. Fulton to advise him to come
from Gloucester, whence his letters were dated, to Man-
chester, to settle this business, as Mr. McNiven had
threatened to adopt strong measures to enforce a settle-
ment. It seems that he then came to Manchester, and
made new proposals to me, to continue the partnership,
or to make my advances to him a debt, which he would
repay me with five per cent, interest ; and it appears
that I preferred and accepted the latter conditions. The
following is the memorandum of proposals made by Mr.
Fulton, dated 17th March 1795 :—

" Manchester, lyth March 1795.

" Memorandum.— Mr. Robert Owen having advanced
the sum of £93 8s. in part towards promoting the two
lirojects of running boats mdependent of locks, and
removing earth out of canals— it is hereby agreed that
the said Robert Owen shall advance to the said Robert
Fulton a further sum, not exceeding £80, to enable him,
the said Robert Fulton, to make a fair experiment on
the earth-removing apparatus ; that on finishing such
machines, should the said Robert Owen think proper to
] iroceed in the partnership as per contract, he shall be at
lull Hberty so to do. But should a partnership be pre-
sented to the said Robert Fulton previous to finishing
the said machine, he shall be at liberty to accept of the
same on the proposal of the said Robert Owen. And in
Hich case, the said Robert Fulton to pay to the said
Robert Owen, five per cent, per annum, lor the monies
advanced until the said Robert Fulton shall be enabled

) refund the principal.

^ " Robert Fulton.

My next letter from him is dated the 2nd of November
1795, regretting his inability to pay me any part ot Ins
debt. My next letter from him is dated London the
19th of September 1796, still saying he could not pay

96 THE LIFE OF

me, but informing me that his new speculations were
beginning to be successful in some tanning improvement,
in addition to his canal contract, which continued to
give him prospects of ultimate success. My next letter
from him is dated London, the 28th of April 1797, and '
being of a more cheering nature, and more satisfactory
as to his prospects and future proceedings, I give it entire.

" London, April 28th, 1797.

" Dear Sir, —

" Yesterday Mr. Atheson presented me with your kind
letter, and I beg you, together with all my old com-
panions, to accept my most sincere thanks for the friendly
sentiments and good wishes they entertain in my favour.

" It was my intention to write to you about the i8th
of next month, at which time I shall have a bill due, and
I hope to be in possession of cash.

" The arrangement I have now made, I hope will
crown my wishes ; having sold one fourth of my canal
prospects for £1500 to a gentleman of large fortune and
considerable enterprise, w^ho is gone to reside at New York.
Of this ;^i5oo, I shall receive ;^5oo on the 17th of next
month — ;£5oo in six months, and £500 on my arrival in
America, which I hope will be about June '98.

" Now, my friend, this being the state of my money
prospects, it becomes necessary that I should deal equal
with all my creditors, whose patience in waiting the result
of my enterprise I shall long remember with the most
heartfelt satisfaction, in which, thank Heaven (some men
would say please the pigs), I have succeeded.

" In the appropriation of the first ;f5oo, it is stipulated
between my partner and me, that I should go to Paris
and obtain patents for the small canal system — this I
calculate will cost me about ;f200. Of the remaining
;^300, I will send £60 as your portion, and pay you the
remainder in six months, which, I hope, will answer your
purpose. I shall also be happy to pay any loss you
may sustain by paying interest.

" In about three weeks I mean to set out for Paris
and hope to return in time to be with you at Christmas ;

ROBERT OWEN 97

and about this time next year I expect to sail for America,
where I have the most flattering field of action before me,
liaving already converted the first characters in that
country tc my small system of canals. My seusalions
(Ml this business are consequently pleasing — and I hope
it will please all my friends ; to whom lemember me
kindly. To the Mr. and Mrs. Marsland, Moulston,
Scarth, Clarke, Jolly, and the whole assemblage of
Worthies, remember me, good Owen.

" Adieu my friend for this time,
" Believe me, sincerely yours,

" Robert Fulton."

I had one more letter from him, dated also from London,
of the 6th of May, having paid me ^60, and promising
the remainder in five months ; and I had no subsequent
communication from him before or after his return to
the United States.

The money which he received from me enabled him
to go to Glasgow, where he saw Bell's imperfect, and, as
to profit, impotent steamboat, on the Clyde, which was
not capable of going, without cargo, more than five miles
an hour. Fulton saw immediately in what the defect
lay, and knowing how to remedy it, immediately pro-
ceeded to the United States, and did more to promote
their rapid progress to great prosperity, than anyone
living ; and I consider the little aid and assistance
which I gave to enable him to bestow so great advantage
on his country and the world, as money most fortunately
expended.

While Fulton was with us in Manchester, forming one
of a circle of inquiring friends, who very frequently met,
he was considered a valuable addition. The late Dr.
John Dalton, as I have before stated, was one of this
circle, and Coleridge came occasionally from his college,
during vacations, to join us.

I must now return to my progress in Scotland.

I had one son born in a year after my marriage,— but
he died in infancy. Another, named Robert Dale, was
born the end of the second year. William Dale, two

7

98 THE LIFE OF

years afterwards. Then followed two daughters —
Anne Caroline and Jane Dale — about two years between
each. Then David Dale and Richard ; and my youngest
daughter, Mary, closed the number of my family.

In the summer we lived in the cottage in the gardens
in the centre of the village and works, and in winter we
resided with my father-in-law in Charlotte Street,
Glasgow. I rode on horseback frequently to and from
Glasgow, where our warehouses and offices for our stock
of cotton and yarns, and counting-houses for the trans-
action of our receipts and payments, were situated.
In winter, as stated, we lived with Mr. Dale, and he was
much attached to the family, and became gradually
more and more confiding in me. He was one of the most
liberal, conscientious, benevolent, and kind-hearted men
I have met with through my life. He was universally
respected for the simplicity and straightforward honesty
of character. His good nature was often much imposed
upon, and he gave away large sums, often in mistaken
charities, which were pressed upon him through his
being the pastor of upwards of forty churches or con-
gregations, dissenters from the Church of Scotland,
composed chiefly of poor persons, learned in the peculiar
cause of their dissent, but otherwise uninformed as to
general knowledge. Mr. Dale received all these kindly
and hospitably, and was truly a good pastor to them,
in every sense of the word. He was a bishop among
them, without receiving anything from his flock ; but
on the contrary, expending his private fortune freely
to aid and assist them.

From my marriage to his death, he and I never ex-
changed one unpleasant expression or an unkind word ; —
and this was the more remarkable, because our religious
notions were very different at the period of my marriage,
and we distinctly knew this difference. But Mr. Dal
being sincerely religious, was most charitable to tlios'
who differed with him. We had frequently many friendl
discussions respecting our convictions on religion,
took my ground with him on the error of all religion
in placing any virtue in the faith or belief in theirl

ROBERT OWEN gg

respective dogmas. I held that belief never was and
never could be in the power of anj^one ; that it was
forced upon all by early instruction, or by conviction
of the strongest evidence made upon the mind ; that in
either case the individual was compelled to have the
faith or belief, whatever it might be ; and that it was in
every instance an involuntary act of the mind, and for
which no one could be justly or rationally praised or
blamed, rewarded or punished. And as all religions
were based on the presumed power of man to believe or
disbelieve by the power of an independent will of his own
creation, and as this supposition was opposed to all facts
all the religions of the world were emanations of dis-
ordered or misinstructed minds, although in many cases
supported by the most sincere, benevolent, and well-
intentioned individuals, who had been so impressed with
their truth and importance, that they, like the equally
mistaken patriots of the present day, often willingly
sacrificed their lives in defence of their faith or of the
religious notions which, unknowing the cause whence
arising, they were compelled to have.

I told him I could no more force my mind to believe
that which he had been made conscientiously to believe,
! han he could force his own mind to believe as I had been
compelled to believe ; that that which had been forced
into his mind as divine truth, was made to appear to me
as ignorant human falsehood, and which, whenever
brought under discussion with me, I was conscientiously
compelled to endeavour to disprove.

After a certain time, finding these facts could not be
justly denied, and being extremely liberal and tnithful.
he admitted them, and acknowledged I was consistent
il according to my view of human nature ; but he often
concluded our discussions, which we always continued
in the kindest spirit and with full charity for each
other's opinions, by saying, with one of his peculiar kind
and affectionate expressions (for I had become a great
avourite with him) — " Thou needest be very right for

thou art very positive." And I am sure he deeply
reflected on all I said.

100 THE LIFE OF

In this manner and in this spirit all our discussions
upon religion terminated ; but after sometime, when
each party knew the other's opinions, these discussions
ceased and our conversations were generally directed
to elicit some practical measure of improvement for the
poor and workpeople, or to some domestic affairs. But
such were the feelings created in me by his natural
simplicity, his almost unbounded liberahty and bene-
volence, and his warm - hearted kindness that my
affection for him daily increased as long as he
lived.

I have previously mentioned that he was a partner
with Mr. George Macintosh, father to Charles, who in-
vented the manufacture of india-rul:)l)er into the well-
known " Macintoshes " for preserving from rain ; and
as I advised Mr. Dale to terminate some of his many
business establishments, he wished me to go with his
partner, Mr. George Macintosh, into Sutherland, where
the cotton mill in which they were partners was situated.
This was at that period (1802) a formidable undertaking.
There were no steamboats, no mail coaches, not even
the common stage coach, and the roads were in a
wretched state, carried over the tops of the hills, having
been made under the direction of General Wade as
military roads, in a supposed enemy's country to prevent
surprise. The usual mode of travelhng was on foot or
on horseback, or by very slow going carriage vehicles. In
one case we had to engage a chaise, horses, and driver to
go the whole journey and back with us. It is useful to
notice the progress of travfelling and of civilization, in
this part of the British dominions. Our engagement
with the owner of the carriage and horses was — to pay
thirty shillings a day for each day, until our return ; to
travel on the average not more than twenty miles a day,
— and that upon those roads was considered a hard day's
work for horses and driver ; and so we found it. We were
also to pay all tolls and the driver, — but I do not recollect
whether we were to feed the horses or not ; bat, how-
ever that might be, we had generally to walk up all the'
hills, and down many of them, and occasionally, when

u

ROBERT OWEN loi

the hill was long and steep, we had to assist the horses
by pushing behind the carriage.

Mr. Macintosh knew everything on this route, the
principal houses, and who occupied them ; being himself
a Highlander, born in Ross-shire, higlily intelligent,
humane, and an excellent travelling companion. He
had, from love of his country, induced Mr. Dale, who
first commenced cotton spinning in Scotland at the New
Lanark establishment in partnership with Mr. (after-
wards Sir Richard) Arkwright, to join him (Mr. Macintosh)
in this cotton mill in Scotland — called the " Spinning
Dale Cotton Mill," with a view of introducing this new
machinery into the North Highlands, and to give employ-
ment to the people. Mr. Dale sent instructed people
there to manage the business for him and Mr. Macintosh,
but he himself never went there.

Our journey was to me one of great interest. I had
never been in the Highlands. The scenery and every-
thing connected with the country were new to me, and
on this occasion I had an excellent traveUing companion.
After we arrived in the Highlands we found it difficult
enough to make out the average of twenty miles a day,
but I was amply gratified by the wild scenery through
which we passed, and was amused with the primitive
accommodations we met with among the mountaineers,
for there was at that period very httle travelling through
those districts.

Sir Walter Scott was at this time unknown to fame,
and the Highlands were very seldom visited by the
EngUsh ; but Mr. Macintosh well knowing the country
and its customs, we passed on our way, though slowly,
much better than I anticipated at the commencement
of our journey.

As an evidence of our rate of traveUing — one day, as
usual, we were walking up one of the long hills, and were
overtaken by one of the young men of tlie country, who
appeared to be about twenty-five years old, and who was
going some distance in our direction. We entered into
conversation with him, and found liim well acquainted
with the locality for a considerable distance around, and

102 THE LIFE OF

we obtained much useful information from him before
we attained the summit of the long hill, when Mr.
Macintosh and I got into the carriage to descend on the
other side. Our new companion, as the horses could
only proceed at a slow walk, such was the then state of
the road, for some time accompanied us by the side of
the carriage, and continued our conversation. But our
progress was so slow that at length he said — " Really,
" gentlemen, I am very sorry to leave you, — but I cannot
" delay my journey any longer," and bidding us " good
" morning," he soon left us far behind, and in a few
minutes was out of sight. I said — " Mr. Macintosh, this
" is really too bad — here are we with a carriage, a pair of
" horses, and a driver, — and this young man on foot
" cannot wait our slow movements. How much more
" independent he is, than we are with these appendages ! "
He said that many of these young men thought nothing
of walking fifty or sixty miles in the day for pleasure,
and occasionally more, if necessity required them to
extend the distance.

We soon began to enjoy the fresh air of the mountains,
and being obliged to wait long at our stages for feeding
and resting the horses, we made frequent excursions to
see the best views and the finest scenery within our reach.
I enjoyed the exhilarating mountain breezes very much,
and we found a great increase to our appetite, especially
after travelling a long stage before breakfast, on which
occasion the landlord's eggs, etc., suffered a great
diminution.

This journey added considerably to the strength of
my constitution, and to my surprise I found, such was
the keenness and purity of the air, with the exercise we
took, that, contrary to my former habit, I could take
the spirit manufactured then so pure in the Highlands,
in moderate quantity, without suffering any incon-
venience, but which practice I never could adopt in the
Lowlands.

In passing through one of the extraordinary glens on
our route, inclosed on either side with high mountains,
Mr. Macintosh said — " I have great cause to remember

ROBERT OWEN 103

"this glen, for on one occasion, when I was passing
" through it alone on horseback, and when I was about
" the middle of it, I was suddenly surprised by an eagle
" darting close by me, which startled me from abstract
" musings in which I was intently occupied at the time,
" and looking around me I saw two large eagles hovering
"above me, and I soon discovered that they intended
" to make a morning feast upon me, and upon the pony
" on which I rode,- — for immediately one of them again
" darted direct at my eyes. Fortunately I had a short
■ strong riding whip with a long lash, and with tliis I
" parried their attacks, which they made singly, one
" some minutes after the other, and I had the greatest
" difficulty in guarding my head against their repeated
" attempts at my eyes, which were evidently their aim.
" If they had attacked me both at the same time, their
" swiftness and power were such that I doubt whether I
" could long have resisted their united forces ; and never
" did I feel the escape from imminent personal danger
" so much as when I cleared the glen and was freed from
" those ferocious and powerful birds."

We at length arrived at Inverness, where Mr. Macin-
tosh was well known to the authorities of the burgh.
lie made known to them who his travelling companion
was, — whom I represented, — and that the object of our
journey was to see what could be done towards extending
the cotton manufacture in the north Highlands ; which
measure had been for some time a favourite plan with
}.Ir. Macintosh, who, from seeing Mr. Dale's success in
\arious places in the south of Scotland, had a strong
desire to thus benefit his native district.

From respect and regard for Mr. Macintosh we were
officially sohcited to accept the honorary freedom of this
inyal and loyal burgh, and we were invited to a pubhc
uinner, to be given on the occasion, at which the Provost
jiresided. After dinner the freedom of the burgh was
! 'resented to us in curious boxes prepared for the pur-
I 'ose, and given with great official formality. The usual
1 i'inj)limentary speeches and replies were made. This
was the first time I witnessed the pubhc proceedings

104 THE LIFE OF

of a royal burgh in Scotland, — but afterwards I saw
more of them, to my cost, in election matters. In this
case we were much gratified with the kindness and dis-
interested hospitality of the authorities of Inverness,
where, after travelhng so long through the Highland
districts, I was surprised to hear the English language
spoken in great purity by the inhabitants generally.

At length we crossed the Moray Firth, and attained
the utmost extent of our travels northward,, and arrived
at " Spinning Dale Mills." The works were not ex-
tensive, and were in ordinary condition ; and we
remained only long enough for me to discover what
improvements to recommend without going to too great
expense, for the locality was unfavourable for extension
or for a permanent establishment. Mr. Dale soon after
our return sold his interest in it, and induced Mr. Macin-
tosh to follow his example.

Upon our return we visited several respectable
Highland families, remaining a longer or shorter period
with each family. I kept a journal of this journey,
which in my many changes of residence and extensive
travelling since, has been mislaid, — ^^vhich I regret ; for
our visits were very interesting, and the kindness,
hospitality, and good sense of the parties to whom Mr.
Macintosh introduced me, gratified me very much at
the time, and left a pleasing impression on my mind.
The names of the parties and places of residence I cannot
now recall to memory, but Mr. Grant, of Logan, was
one of them, and with whose conversation I was much
interested.

Feeling always the importance to the human race of
the knowledge which I had acquired of the true prin-
ciples of the formation of character, and of the over-
whelming influence of circumstances, or of good or bad
conditions, in forming character, — perceiving also that
the happiness or misery of our race depended upon an
accurate knowledge in principle and practice of this
formation, — I always endeavoured in every new society .
to introduce and enforce these subjects by the most plain
and simple arguments and explanations. All subsequent

ROBERT OWEN 105

experience tended to prove to me the endless crimes,
errors, and evils, created by, and necessarily emanating
from, the grossly deceived imagination which led our
earliest and most ignorant ancestors to take it for
granted, despite of the hourly opposing facts to disprove
their false notions — " that each one forms his own
" qualities, and therefore should be made responsible
" to his fellow-man and to God for them." Seeing vividly
the immense evil consequences arising from this most
fatal of all errors, it gradually became the great business
of my life to endeavour to convince all parties with whom
I came into communication, of the lamentable conse-
quences which have necessarily arisen from it to the
human race, through all past ages, — of its obstruction
to knowledge of ourselves (the most valuable of all
knowledge) — of its creation of sin and misery, while
without it, ignorance, sin, and misery would be now un-
known over the world, — and to the total destruction of
the principle of charity, morality, and justice. Its evils
were always present to my mind, and my habit became
uniform to oppose it everywhere, under all its varied
forms and vicious results.

It was this habit of my mind that induced Hazlitt
some years after this period to say in his writings that I
was " a man of one idea." Had he said that I was a man
of one fundamental principle and its practical conse-
quences,— he would have been nearer the truth. For
instead of the knowledge that " the character of man is
" formed /or and not by him," being "one idea," — it
will be found to be, like the little grain of mustard seed,
competent to fill the mind with new and true ideas, and
to overwhelm in its consequences all other ideas opposed
to it.

It was upon this tour to the Highlands of Scotland,
that on our different visits to Mr. Macintosh's hospitable
friends I began my mission to openly propagate my
•' new views of society " ; and this was in the summer of
1802, above half a century ago.

The argument with which I was the most frequently
met, was, not that the principle which I advocated was

io6 THE LIFE OF

untrue, or in any particular unsound ; but that it was
utterly impracticable. And impracticable because it
would overturn all the existing ideas of right and wrong,
— all the institutions of society, — and would revolutionize
both man and all his proceedings. The argument, so
far as the overturning of all existing ideas of right and
wrong, and the changing of all the institutions of society,
is correct ; and it is the knowledge of this extensive and
overwhelming change, without any correct knowledge ot
what the change will lead to, or how it is to be peaceably
and beneficially for all effected, that so far has deterred
the authorities of the world in churches and states from
allowing the subject to be fairly and freely investigated
from its foundation through all its ramifications as it
will affect the practice of society in every department of
life. The human mind over the world, as it has been
hitherto taught and filled from birth with false and most
incongruous ideas, has no clear conceptions of truth in
principle, or of right and wrong in practice ; hence its
incongruity, contests, wars, and universally irrationa't
conduct at this day over the world. All the nations of
the earth, with all the boast of each respecting their
advance in what they call civilization , are to-day governed
by force, fraud, falsehood, and fear, emanating from
ignorance in governors and governed. For all are
lamentable sufferers from so governing and being so
governed. Truth, goodness, wisdom, and happiness
will be for ever unattainable under any state of society,
based, as society ever has been and now is based, upon
.the supposition that each one forms his own qualities,
possesses a free will to believe or disbelieve, or to love
or hate persons or things at pleasure, — and that map
ought to be responsible to God and society for his qualities
of mind and body, for his belief or disbelief, for his love
or hatred, and for all his actions proceeding from them.
And, once for all, I now, at the near approach of eighty-
six years (1857), after a life of great and extraordinary!
experience among all classes, creeds, and colours, andj
in many countries, state, upon the clearest conviction
forced on my mind, that all the petty schemes of reform j

ROBERT OWEN 107

proposed by any political or religious parties, short of
this radical change in principle and practice, and making
the practice without deviation, in outline and detail,
consistent with the principle, are not only of no value,
but that they are mischievous obstructions to the im-
mediate attainment of goodness, wisdom, and happiness,
to all of the human race.

It was this knowledge of human nature, consistently
applied to practice, that enabled me at twenty years of
age to govern most successfully five hundred men,
women, and children, and to conduct one of the most
difficult manufactures to a high degree of prosperity
over all competitors. It was this knowledge that, at
the period of the history of my life which I am now
narrating, induced me to undertake to govern a more
difficult and extended population, amidst all manner of
counteractions and opposing forces, on these new prin-
ciples,— and with what success will be seen as I proceed
with my narrative, to which I now return.

Mr. Dale and Mr. Macintosh sold the " Spinning Dale
" Mill," and Mr. Dale and Sir William Douglas sold the
mill at Newton-Douglas. The Catrine Mills, in Ayrshire,
which Mr. Dale possessed in partnership with Mr.
Alexander of Ballochmyle, were also sold, to Messrs.
Kirkman Finlay and Co., of Glasgow.

These sales released Mr. Dale from much anxiety, and
allowed him to pass the remainder of his life more quietly
and much more to his satisfaction. During summer,
while we were hving at New Lanark, Mr. Dale occasionally
came to remain for a short time with us. His situation
as director of the Bank of Scotland in Glasgow, pre-
vented his being long absent from that city. Year after
\ear he witnessed the changes which were in progress—
Ihe improved condition and increased industry' of the
people; and thev presented a striking contrast to the
state of the estabhshment when we purchased it. He
said to the people, " If the miUs had been managed as
" they now are, and you had worked for me as you arc
" now working for Mr. Owen, I would not have sold the
" establishment to strangers." At this time I had but

io8 THE LIFE OF

one-ninth interest in the partnership, — ^but I had one
thousand a year as sole manager, and Mr. Dale would
have preferred, could we have foreseen fevents, that it
should have remained entirely in the family.

When I have stated that in improving society I would
effect the change by superseding existing evil conditions
by good ones, the question has often been asked — How
will you begin? My reply has been, "In the same
" manner that I commenced the change in New Lanark.
" I studied the existing local causes which were creating
" the evils and errors, and I gradually superseded these
" causes by others less productive of evil — by such
" causes as were calculated to produce beneficial instead
" of evil effects." And thus, to act rationally, must
the change be effected everywhere. The local causes
producing evil in all situations must be well considered,
and then measures properly adapted to those circum-
stances should be devised to supersede the evil causes
by good.

But in this practice the population of the world is
even now a novice, or very imperfectly informed. In
consequence of the false fundamental principle, " that man
''forms himself to be what he is," — few, if any, know what
are evil and what are good conditions, and how to super-
sede the evil by the good. And hence the failure of all
churches and governments to train any portion of the
human race to become rational, or to become good, wise,
and happy. While if they had understood this practice
at an early period, the entire population of the world,
thousands of years past, would have been so surrounded
by good conditions only, that all would have enjoj'ed a
state of existence in which from birth all would have been
forced, without individual rewards or punishments,
but solely through the influence of surrounding good
conditions, to become good, wise, and happy.

To prepare the population for this change, to show them
by example the effects of so simple a practice, had now to
become the business of many years of my life, and I set
about it in good earnest.

Had I then had to commence de novo in creating my

ROBERT OWEN 109

own combination of conditions, tliey would have been
very different from mere cotton mill combinations — very
different from those which existed at tliis jieriod in the
village and works of New Lanark. There would iia\-e
been no difficulty in forcing, without individual punish-
ment or rewanl, a good character upon all ; nor in
enabling them with pleasure to surround themselves at
all times with a superfluity of the most valuable wealth,
if I had had the means to create, on a new foundation
and site, the combination of conditions which can alone
effect these results. Society has never yet put it into
my power to show the world an example of these con-
ditions,— although it is the highest and most permanent
interest of all that this example should he given in my
lifetime, because my experience in scientific practical
arrangements for superseding evil by good conditions, is
' the only experience of that character yet known to the
world.

I had a very different and a far more difficult task to
perform at New Lanark. I was obliged to commence
with combination of vicious and inferior conditions —
but conditions to which the population had been long
"accustomed, and to many of which they were strongly
attached. The difficulty of undoing and overcoming that
which has long been wrong, greatly exceeds the difficulty
of putting matters right from the beginning. That which
I could have done comparatively perfectly in two years,
had I possessed the means unfettered by partners and
ignorant prejudices, I could not effect under the erroneous
combination of a cotton spinning establishment, such
as then existed at New Lanark, with the most devoted
attention to the subject, in the thirty years during which
I directed the operations of that establishment. Nor
could such an establishment ever be made tolerably
perfect in my estimation, with the conditions necessarily
connected with a mere manufacturing establishment.
Its foundation is an error ; and its superstructure could
be amended only by an entire re-creation of new con-
ditions. '

But the new conditions with which I propose to sur-

no THE LIFE OF

round the human race must be everywhere introduced
while present conditions exist. It should, however, be
distinctly understood, that the conditions of the proposed
new state of human existence, must commence on new
sites ; for those of the old can never be united to make
a consistent, rational, true, and beneficial society. >A11
therefore that I could expect to accomplish at New
Lanark, was to ameliorate to some extent the worst evils
of a fundamentally erroneous system. { Yet, in the esti-
mation of the public, the change which was effected at
New Lanark exceeded all expectation. Those strangers
who came to scrutinise and examine it, said that the
change appeared to them, until they witnessed it, to
be utterly impracticable.

I here make these explanations, because the public
supposed that I made New Lanark the model of the
system which I advocated, and that I wished the world
to be composed of such arrangements as New Lanark
exhibited in its improved state. Although before I had
half accomplished what I ultimately effected there, the
improvement in the condition of the workpeople was
such that the strangers who visited the works were
satisfied ; and, compared with all other similarly situated
workpeople, these were happy, and publicly expressed
their full content with their condition, — still, I knew too
well the inferiority of their mind and condition, and the
injustice they were yet suffering, to be satisfied for them,
— knowing how much more society could beneficially do
for them, and for all other classes.

Let it therefore be kept in everlasting remembrance,
that that which I effected at New Lanark was only the
best I could accomplish under the circumstances of an
ill-arranged manufactory and village, which existed be-
fore I undertook the government of the establishment.

After the events which had taken i)lnce at New Lanark
in consequence of the American embargo upon tlieirl
own ports, I had the confidence of the workpeople heartily
with me, and then I urged forward with greater rapidity]
my measures for the improvement of their condition,
physically and morally. , Finding their temptations too

ROBERT OWEN in

strong for them to be honest and sober, and steadily
and regularly industrious, I devised new conditions to
counteract these temptations. I adopted checks of
various kinds in all the departments of the business, to
render theft impracticable without almost immediate
detection. In one department in which theft had been
carried on to a ruinous extent, and in which a hundred
thousand of the kind of objects pilfered passed daily
through four different set of hands, I devised a plan by
which, without counting, should one be taken, the loss
would be at once discovered, and in whose department it
occurred. I had also a daily return presented to me
every morning of the preceding day's operations, and
frequent balances in every department.
flBut that which I found to be the most efficient check
upon inferior conduct, was the contrivance of a silent
^monitor for each one employed in the establishment.
This consisted of a four-sided piece of wood, about two
inches long and one broad, each side coloured — one side
black, another blue, the third yellow, and the fourth
white, tapered at the top, and finished with wire eyes, to
hang upon a hook with either side to the front. One of
these was suspended in a conspicuous place near to
each of the persons employed, and the colour at the
front told the conduct of the individual during the
preceding day, to four degrees of comparison. Bad,
denoted by black and No. 4, — indifferent by blue, and
No. 3, — good by yellow, and No. 2, — and excellent by
white and No. i^Then books of character were provided,
for each department, in which the name of each one
employed in it was inserted in the front of succeeding
columns,. which sufficed to mark by the number the daily
conduct, day by day, for two months ; and these books
were changed six times a year, and were preserved ; by
which arrangement I had the conduct of each regislered
to four degrees of comparison during every day of the
week, Sundays excepted, for every year they remained
ill my employment. The superintendent of each dejiart-
inent had the placing daily of these silent monitors, and
ihe master of the mill regidated those of the superin-

112 THE LIFE OF

tendents in cacli mill. If anyone thought that the
.su]>erintendent did not do justice, he or she had a right
to com]>lain to me, or, in my absence, to the master of
tlie mill, before the number denoting the character was
entered in the register. But such complaints very rarely
occiured. The act of setting down the number in the
book of character, never to be blotted out, might be
likened to the supposed recording angel marking the
good aijd bad deeds of poor human nature.

It was gratifying to observe the new spirit created by
these silent monitors. The effects and progress of this
simple plan of preventing bad and inferior conduct were
far beyond all previous expectation. Each silent moni-
tor was, as stated, so placed as to be conspicuous, and
to be seen to belong to its own individual. I could thus
see at a glance, as I passed through each room of every
factory or mill, how each one had behav^ed during the
preceding day.

At the commencement of this new method of recording
character, the great majority were black, many blue, and
a few yellow ; gradually the black diminished and were
succeeded by the blue, and the blue were gradually
succeeded by the yellow, and some, but at first very few,
were white.

For the first eight years I was continually occupied in
training the people, improving the village and machinery,
and in laying the foundation for future progress. It was
intended as much for an experiment for the benefit of
the world, as for cotton spinning, so far as such an
experimental establishment could be applied for such pur-
pose, with its radical defects. My time, from early to
late, and my mind, were continually occupied in devising
measures and directing their execution, to improve the
condition of the people, and to advance at the same time?
the works and the machinery as a manufacturing estab-
lishment.

During this period my father-in-law's health began t<>
decline. We had acquired a sincere friendship and
strong affection for each other. He, a genuine good a.nd
religious man, — while I was a conscientious believer in

ROBERT OWEN 113

the fundamental error of all religions. Yet we were as
cordially united in feeling as two men could be. Each
respected the conscientious feelings of the other, and
upon these differences the utmost charity prevailed on
both sides. He was the only religious man I ever knew
who possessed real charity for those who so differed
from him. He gave me his full confidence, and asked
my advice on all his affairs, and adopted rriy recom-
mendations, I think, in every instance.

In his last illness I was, by his earnest request, con-
tinually with him ; he always wished me to give him his
medicines, and he was unwilling to take them from any
one else.

When he thought that he could not live much longer, he
requested me to tell him what I thought he should do for
others not of his own immediate family, having already
made his will as to them. The late Mrs. Dale had left
two maiden sisters and one married one, and I knew their
family expected Mr. Dale, who had been always very
liberal to them, would remember them in his will. But
laving five children and expecting many grandchildren,
le did not think it necessary to do so, as their immediate
elatives were wealthy, although their own incomes were
imited.
I said—" I am sure they will feel very much dis-
appointed." " Well," he said, " write down what you
■ think should be done for them." At that time I
hought Mr. Dale's property was much more valuable
han from many changes it afterwards proved to be.
therefore wrote what I intended to be a codicil to his
\ ill, leaving each of these ladies one hundred a year for
lie, and making some other legacies, the amount of
vhich I do not recollect.

These ladies had one brother living, domg well, con-
i. cted with high famihes, and himself a well emi)loyed
uiter to the signet m Edinburgh, and another brother
kceased. General Campbell, who had been Deputy
Governor of Gibraltar, and commandant under His
^oyal Highness the late Duke of Kent. General
' mpbell was a very superior officer and a great favounte
8

114 THE LIFE OF

with the Duke. In consequence of the General's eminent
services, his eldest son, the present General Sir Gu}
Campbell, was made a baronet, and upon a visit to m<-
while I resided at Braxiield (to be afterwards mentioned)
he met with Miss Fitzgerald, the daughter of Lord
Edward Fitzgerald, who was then upon a visit with our
neighbour Lady Ross Bailey, of Bonnington, whose
eldest son. Sir Charles Ross, Bart., had married Lady Mary
Fitzgerald, sister of the Duke of Leinster. Sir Guy anci
Miss Fitzgerald were married at Bonnington, and I ga\ c
the lady away, being also her co-trustee with the Dukt
of Leinster, her uncle.

These circumstances I mention to show the wealthy
and superior connexions of the Campbell family, which
induced Mr. Dale to say that he thought the legacif
which I recommended him to leave to the Misses Camp-
bell were not called for, and could not be reasonabl .
expected.

I knew, however, that the disappointment of the^
ladies and their brother would be very afflicting to theiu
if they were forgotten. _ Soon after I had written tiic^
letter containing these proposed legacies, the brothei
arrived from Edinburgh, and reading the paper which I
had written, he became very anxious that Mr. Dale should
sign it, and urged him very much to do so ; but Mr
Dale was very firm, and decided not to sign it. " Then,'
Mr. Campbell said, " it will be useless, and as a dead
"letter"; — but the more Mr. Dale was solicited tht
more unwilling he became to accede, and at length h«
said, " I leave with my son-in-law to act after my death
" as he may decide," — and thus this matter was con
eluded. Mr. Campbell was much respected as the heac
of a religious sect, and a popular W.S.

In two or three days afterwards Mr. Dale died, and Mi
death was felt as a great public loss, — for he was uni
versally respected, and was loved by all who knew him
There was a peculiarly attractive and winning bene
volence in his manner, that won the hearts of all who wer
known to him, — but especially of those who were ad
mitted to his familiarity. To me, who had his full con |

ROBERT OWEN (^115

ndence in all his affairs for the last six years of his life,
and to whom lie was most affectionately kind, his loss,
a> a parent and confidential friend, to whom I was
attached in a manner only known and felt by myself,
was as though I had been deprived of a large part of
myself. The morning after his death the world appeared
a blank to me, and his death was a heavy loss to and
severely felt by every member of his family.

The inhabitants of Glasgow made his funeral a pubhc
one. They closed their shops, suspended their business,
and attended the funeral of the man without guile,
benevolent and kind to all, regardless of creed and
country.

To return to the New Lanark establishment and its
population.

In searching out the evil conditions in which the
workpeople were involved, their domestic arrangements
for rearing their children from infancy appeared to me
especially to be injurious to parents and children, and
my thoughts were now directed to measures which
should, as far as practicable under our circumstances,
relieve both from the worst of the evils which they were
suffering.

The houses of the poor and working classes generally
are altogether unfit for the training of young children,
who, under the limited space and accommodations of
these dwellings, are always in the way of their parents,
who must be occupied about their daily affairs ; the
children are therefore spoken to and treated just the
reverse of the manner required to well-train and well-
educate children. And in ninety-nine cases out of a
hundred, parents are altogether ignorant of the right
method of treating children, and their own children
especially. These considerations created in me the
first thoughts respecting the necessity of an inkint
M-liool, to be based on tlie true j^rinciple of forming char-
it ter from the earliest period at which the infants could
leave their parents. .

These children were now surrounded by evil conditions.
1 wished to take them, as much as our establishment

Ii6 THE LIFE OF

could be made to admit, out of those evil conditions, and
to place them within better conditions for forming their
tempers and habits. I was surrounded with difficulties
to oppose the carrying of my views into practice. To
erect and finish a building for my purpose would require
an expenditure in the first instance of about five thousand
pounds, — and a considerable annual outlay afterwards.
But this I estimated would gradually be amply repaid
by the improved character of the children, and the im-
proved condition of the parents. I had then, when the
building should be erected, to overcome the prejudices
of the parents against sending their children so young to
school. I had to meet the objections of my partners,
who were all good commercial men, and looked to the
main chance, as they termed it, — which was a good return
for their capital. And I was opposed in all my views by
the parish minister. In contemplating this new meas.
ure, my mind led me to the necessity for making arrange-
ments to well-form the character of the rising population
of New Lanark from the earliest period to maturit}',
as far as a cotton-spinning estabhshment could be
made to effect it, and commercial men to agree to it.
I therefore laid the plan as deep and wide for this pur-
pose as the means under my control would admit.

My mind had been early deeply impressed while in
Manchester with the importance of education for the
human race. I had watched and aided the progress of
Lancaster in his early attempts to commence something
towards a beginning to instruct the poor, and had
encouraged him to the extent that my means permitted
And when the Church set up Dr. Bell in opposition to
Lancaster, I was inclined equally to encourage Dr. Bell

I immediately perceived the fundamental error of
both Church and Dissent ; but the beginning of some
education, however defective, was much better than
the entire neglect of it ; and I confidently expected that
when once commenced it would gradually progress
towards a much more matured state. I therefore
assisted Lancaster, from first to last, with a thousand
pounds, and offered to Dr. Bell's committee a like amount

ROBERT OWEN 117

if they would open the national schools to children of
parents of every creed ; but I offered to give them only
half the sum if they persisted in their rule to shut tlie
doors against all except those professing the creed
of the Church of England. The committee of the
national schools debated this proposal of mine for two
days, and at length decided, by a small majority f»f
votes, as I was informed, to receive the five lumdred
pounds, keeping their doors closed against Dissent ; and
dechned to open them for a gift of double the amount.
1 thus saved my five hundred pounds, and I had the
satisfaction to learn that the result of those two debates
was to cause the doors of the national schools to be
opened to Dissent in about twelve months afterwards.

In following up the subject from that period to the
present, my mind has attained the knowledge of the all-
importance of education in its true meaning, for forming
a good character, not merely for the present period, but
permanently and universally for the human race.

Inmaking preparationfortraining therising generation
in the village of New Lanark, I had not the means to
create anew the extended arrangements required to
give a good and valuable permanent character to all.
[ was compelled by circumstances to use such means
as were placed within my power, and in consequence of
the many obstacles opposed, to proceed only at a snail's
[jace. I began in 1809 to clear the foundation for the
infant and other schools, to form the new character of
rhe rising population ; but until the first of January
1816 I was prevented carrying my scheme into actual
[practice by the events to be narrated.

I had by this time (1809) made such progress m
training the people in better and more sober and in-
3ustrious habits, and in discovering the capacity of
he establishment for more extended operations, that I
ecommended to my partners in London and Manchester
he advantages that might be derived by the changes
ind reforms which I advocated. The statements which
i made to them went beyond their views and alarmed
hem by their extent. The leading partners from each

ii8 THE LIFE OF

house came from London and Manchester to see what I
had done and was doing. They stayed on a visit to me
for several days, and after inspecting everything, and
hearing what I had further to recommend, they ex-
pressed themselves highly pleased with the progress
made and with the present condition of the whole
establishment. They said they would communicate to
our other partners my views as I had explained them,
and would take them into consideration. Upon their
return the}^ decided to present me with a large silver
salver, with a very flattering inscription engraved upon
it, and I concluded that my plans for future progress
would be agreed to. But some of the parties were
timid, and were afraid to agree to my extended recom-
mendations ; and after some months' consideration,
some more of the acting and principal partners came
again to hear the full outline and detail of that which
I proposed to do.

I explained to them my intended measures, step by
step, and stated the beneficial effects which I expected
they would produce. When I had fully delivered myself
of all I intended to say upon the subject, and to which
they listened with great interest, I was struck and much
amused by the reply of their appointed spokesman. He
said, " Each of your propositions is true individually;
" but as they lead to conclusions contrary to our edu-
" cation, habits, and practices, they must in the aggre-
" gate be erroneous, and we cannot proceed on such new
" principles for governing and extending this already
" very large establishment." M}^ reply was, " I can
" govern and conduct this population, and direct the
" establishment only upon the principles which appear
" to me to be true, and through the practice which I
" understand, and which hitherto has always been
" successful." They however seemed to be doubtful,
and to hesitate what to say or do ; for they saw I was
decided to manage, while I remained the managing
partner, in the way I knew would succeed the most
effectually. Seeing the dilemma in which they aj^peared
to be, I said, " If you are afraid to proceed with me, I

ROBERT OWEN 119

" will offer you a sum for the establishment, which I
" will either give for it, or accept from you. and in the
" latter case the establishment shall be yours and under
" your own control." The reply was, " Your offer is
" fair and liberal. What is the sum you fix as its value ? "
I said, " Eighty-four thousand pounds." After some
short conversation among themselves they replied,
" We accept your offer, and the establishment is yours."
I thus for the second time fixed the price for these mills.

I had previously had applications made to me, to
join me in partnership whenever an opportunity offered,
from two wealthy and influential merchants of Glasgow,
who stood high in estimation as commercial men, carry-
ing on very extensive foreign trade in two separate es-
tablishments. They had both married daughters of
Mr. Campbell of the Island of Zura, which island was
his property, and he was a near relation of Mrs. Owen.
Sometime previous to this change in the New Lanark
estabhshment Mr. Campbell of Zura had requested me
to receive and keep for him at interest twenty thousand
pounds, which he said, for family reasons, he did not
wish his son-in-law to know that he possessed ; and at
this period it had been in my keeping for some time.
I put this for greater security for Mr. Campbell into the
firm of the New Lanark Company, although it was
entrusted to me individually. I knew nothing until
afterwards of the reasons which induced Mr. Campbell
to entrust me with the keeping of his money in pre-
ference to his son-in-law.

When it was known that I had purchased the New
Lanark property Mr. Dennistown and Mr. Alexander
Campbell, the son-in-law of Mr. Campbell of Zura, claimed
the promise of joining me in the business, and we agreed
upon terms ; and as soon as this arrangement was known
to Mr. John Atkinson, one of the acting partners in the
firm of Borradale and Atkinson, who were of the firm
of the " New Lanark Twist Company," and who kni:w
all the particulars of the establishment, he. Mr. John
Atkinson, requested to be admitted into our new
partnership, and his request was acceded to, and we com-

120 THE LIFE OF

menced under the new firm of the " New Lanark Com-
pany," leaving out the word " Twist," to make the
necessary distinction. We were also joined by Mr.
Colin Campbell, a partner of Mr. Alexander Campbell
in another firm.

Our late firm had continued for ten years, and oi;
balancing the accounts it appeared that, after payin-
the capitalists five per cent, per annum for their capital
the profits to the firm amounted to sixty thousani
pounds.

It was now a partnership of five, and divided int<)
shares unequally, — Mr. Colin Campbell having the least
and I the greatest share, and I retained the thousand a
year for the management of the concern. We were
proceeding successfully in our business operations at
New Lanark for some time under the new firm, and I
had commenced building the new schools for the forma-
tion of character, when I discovered a strong spirit ol
dissatisfaction in the two sons-in-law of Mr. Campbell
of Zura. Ihey had learned, through Mr. Atkinson, that
their father-in-law had deposited the twenty thousanr-
pounds with me in preference to them, and they becam*-
very jealous of me in consequence of this preference.
They appeared at once to have been filled with the spirit
of undying revenge ; for they commenced a system of
annoyance from the day they made the discovery, to
the day of their deaths, which happened in the same year.
They objected to the building for the schools, and said
they were cotton-spinners and commercial men carrying
on business for profit, and had nothing to do with edu-
cating children ; nobody did it in manufactories ; and
they set their faces against it, and against all m)' measures
for the improvement of the condition of the workpeople.
'-■ They objected to all the improvements I had in pro-
gress for the increased comforts of the villagers, to my
scale of wages for the people, and of salaries to the clerks
and superintendents, which upon principle, and also for
ultimate profit, were what the f>ublic deemed liberal.
I proceeded, however, in my own way, until they gave
me formal notice not to proceed with the schools, I

ROBERT OWEN I2T

then said, — " As I see you do not like my mode of
" managing the people and the works, and as I can
" conduct the establishment successfully only in my
" own way, I resign the management as exclusive
" manager, and retain my interest as one of the partners,
" and I will relinquish the salary of a thousand a year
" rather than be obliged to proceed contrary to my own
" convictions." This did not satisfy their wounded
feelings. They would dissolve the partnership.

I said — ' ' If you desire to do so I will name a sum which
" I will give or take for it." No. They would not agree,
either to buy or sell upon that condition, — but the works
should be brought to sale by public aiiction.

However nmch I disliked such proceedings, finding
that they were determined to carry matters to the
utmost extremity I made no further attempt to oppose
the course they intended to pursue. They kept the
books of the concern, and had all its funds in their
keeping. Mr. Atkinson was ambitious and very desirous
of power and profit. I soon found they were all leagued
together, by their systematic proceedings, and were
determined if possible to ruin me, in character as
manager of such an establishment, and in my pecuniary
means. After 1 resigned the management, they with-
held all funds from me, and would not advance me
sufficient for my house expenses. Although having, as
it soon afterwards appeared, more then seventy thousantl
pounds of mine invested in the establishment, they
refused to give me any part of it until after the sale ;
and I was obliged to borrow for my domestic expenditure,
;md my family and myself were thus greatly annoyed
luring the last year of this partnership.

Previous to the sale they took measures to circulate
reports to deteriorate the value of the New Lanark
establishment, and to lower my character as manager
of it. They stated that I had visionary and wild schemes
for the education of the. children and the improvement
of the character of the people— schemes that no one
except myself ever thought of or believed to be prac-
ticable, they said they had given.eighty-four thousand

122 THE LIFE OF

pounds for the establishment, and they did not think it
now worth forty thousand pounds, and should be too
happy to obtain that sum at the coming sale. Measures
were adopted by them to circulate these opinions, not
only in Glasgow and Scotland generally, but in London
and in all the large towns over the kingdom. The object
was to deter any parties with capital from joining me in
partnership, and thus, at the public sale, to depreciate
the property, that they might purchase it enormously
below its value, and by so doing deprive me and my
family of our means of future support.

They acknowledged, however, that they had no other
objection to my management than what they called my
visionary schemes for educating and improving the
condition of the children and workpeople, and my
giving too high wages and salaries. In fact, they knew
nothing about the true principles of conducting such an
establishment to make it permanently successful. They
imagined an ignorant economy to be better than an
enlightened and liberal treatment of the people and of
our customers.

While they were thus endeavouring to obtain the
establishment at very far less than they knew to be
half its value, I went to London sometime before the
sale, to see to the printing and publishing of four essays
which I had written on the formation of character, and
my partners supposed I was occupied only with such
public measures, and with the parties who were engaged
with myself in promoting means to forward Dr. Bell's
and Mr. Lancaster's plans for educating the poor, and in
other public matters which were then beginning to
occupy the attention of benevolent men, for this was at
the commencement of the new era for ameliorating the
condition of the poor, and for educating their chil-
dren,— ^and during this year (1813) I was thus much
occupied.

I was, however, also engaged in forming a new partner-
ship for carrying forward the establishment at New
Lanark. I was completely tired of partners who were
merely trained to buy cheap and sell dear. This occu-

ROBERT OWEN 123

pation deteriorates, and often destroys, the finest and
best faculties of our nature. From an experience of a
long life, in which I passed through all the gradations
of trade, manufactures, and commercell am thoroughly
convinced that there can be no superior character formed
under this thoroughly selfish system. Truth, honesty,
virtue, will be mere names, as they are now, and as they
have ever been. Under this system there can be no
true civilization ; for by it all are trained civilly to
oppose and often to destroy one another by their created
opposition of interests. It is a low, vulgar, ignorant,
and inferior mode of conducting the affairs of society ;
and no permanent, general, and substantial improvement
can arise until it shall be superseded by a superior mode
of forming character and creating wealth. '

I at this time published a pamphlet for private cir-
culation, stating the preparation which I had made to
conduct the establishment at New Lanark on principles
to ensure the improvement of the condition of the people
as well as to obtain a reasonable remuneration for capital
and for its management. These were circulated among
the best circles of the wealthy benevolent, and of those
who desired with sincerity to commence active measures
for the improvement of the condition of the poor and
working classes ; with a view of obtaining among them
partners who would assist, and not retard, my intended
future operations, and who would not exact from those
they employed too much labour for too little wages.
Such partners I found, possessing these views to a
greater extent than I had anticipated, in Mr. John
Walker, of Arno's Grove ; Jeremy Bentham, the
philosopher ; Joseph Foster of Bromley ; William
Allen of Plough Court ; Joseph Fox, dentist ; and
Michael Gibbs, subsequently Alderman and Lord Mayor
of London — all of whom were willing to become partners
with me if the establishment could be bought at a fair
price at the sale.

During this period my partners in Glasgow supposed
I was only attending to public business, and that I had
abandoned all idea of resuming my post, and of pur-

124 THE LIFE OF

chasing the establishment, which had been advertised
for several months to be sold by public sale in Glasgow,
on a day named. As the time drew nigh, I returned to
Glasgow, and Messrs. Allen, Foster, and Gibbs returned
with me, but remained in a hotel, unknown personally,
or as to their object in visiting Glasgow.

My old partners had made themselves so sure of
becoming the proprietors of New Lanark, that they
had invited a large party of the principal merchants and
persons of their circle to dine with them after the sale,
to commemorate the purchase, and to rejoice with them
on their new acquisition of this extended establishment.
They thought they had, by the reports which they had
so industriously circulated far and wide, sufficiently
deteriorated its value, and had frightened all parties by
calling the measures which I recommended, for educating
the children and improving the condition of the work-
people, wild and visionary, and they expected no one
would be found to bid for it, and that they should be
then enabled to purchase it at forty thousand pounds,
the price at which they intended to put it up for sale,
and if no party bid that price for it, then they were to
be the successful parties, and to become the owners of
New Lanark.

I did not meet them until the morning of the sale, to
decide upon what should be what is called the upset
price, Or the price at which, if any one bid that sum, and
no competitors bid more, the property becomes sold to
him. The first question which I asked them was —
" What do you propose shall be the upset price ? " They
said, as I expected, forty thousand pounds. I said —
" Will you now take sixty thousand pounds for the
" property ? " " No, — we will not," was their immediate
reply. " Then it shall be put up at sixty thousand
" pounds." And they were under the necessity in
consequence of their reply to admit of this decision.

My proposed new partners while we were all met in
London asked me the price which I thought the property
was now worth. I said we should not let it be purchased
from us at less than one hundred and twenty thousand

ROBERT OWEN 125

pounds. And it was concluded that I should be em-
powered to bid to that amount.

On the morning of the sale I instructed my solicitor
in Glasgow, Mr. Alexander Macgi-egor, whom I always
found to be a most honourable man in his profession,
and a sound adviser upon all difficult questions, to bid
at this sale for me. One of the conditions of sale was
that the lowest bidding at each time should be one
hundred pomids. I requested him never to bid at any
one time more than one hundred pounds, and to follow
up the bidding to one hundred and twenty thousand
pounds, and if the other parties should bid up to that
sum then to come to me, as I should be in the room, for
further instructions.

The sale had excited great interest in Glasgow, for I
had become very popular in Scotland, and a belief
existed that I was to be oppressed and victimized that
day, by the influence and capital of my opponents, who
were very wealthy, — and many of my friends and theirs
were present. I took my station at the end of the room
in a position where I could quietly observe all that passed.
My opponents, who had connected with them a junior
but wealthy partner of Mr. Alexander Campbell, were
all there in person, to bid for themselves — and they
came in with great confidence in their bearing, and full
of excited hopes, — for they had not heard that I had
any one to support me. It was a memorable day in
many respects, both to me and to the public.

The sale commenced, and the property was put up at
sixty thousand pounds. Mr. Macgregor bid one hundred
pounds more. My opponents bid at each bidding, for
some time, one thousand pounds in advance, — Mr. Mac-
gregor one hundred only. This mode of bidding con-
tinued until the parties had advanced the price to
eighty-four thousand. At this period my opponents
seemed at fault, and retired into a private room to con-
sult together. They returned, and bid live hundred at
the next bidding, — Mr. Macgregor always immediately
following their bidding with his advance of one hundred
pounds.

126 THE LIFE OF

From this period until the bidding advanced to one
hundred thousand pounds my opponents bid sometimes
by five hundred and sometimes by one hundred at each
bidding. But before they had attained this point, their
appearance and manner gradually changed. They be-
came pale and agitated, and again retired to consult.
Returning to the sale after Mr. Macgregor had bid one
hundred upon their advance to one hundred thousand,
they again resumed bidding one hundred each time,
until they bid one hundred and ten thousand, — and Mr.
Macgregor bid one hundred and ten thousand one
hundred. Their agitation now became excessive. Their
lips became blue, and they seemed thoroughly crest-
fallen.

I had never moved from my position, or appeared
interested in the proceedings. But now one of the sons
of Mr. Campbell of Zura, brother-in-law to Mr. Dennis-
town and Mr. Alexander Campbell, came to advise me
not to proceed higher, but to allow them to become the
purchasers at so good a price. I requested him not to
interfere, and to be silent, for my plans were decided,
and I must watch the proceedings of the sale. My
opponents returned into the room apparently more
excited than ever. Mr. Kirkman Finlay, who was the
leading commercial man at that time in Glasgow, and
was a friend of both parties, had been present for some
time, and he now left the room, saying sufficiently loud
to be heard by all present — " The little one " (meaning
the one hundred bid) " will get it." This saying ap-
peared again to stimulate them, and they bid again in
their former manner until they bid one hundred and
fourteen thousand, — and Mr. Macgregor immediately as
before bid one hundred and fourteen thousand one
hundred, and then my opponents linaJly stojiped bidding
and the property was knocked down to me.

It seemed the old partners had not expected this
opposition, and had not jnepared the intended new
partner for buying at such a price, and they left the room
to induce him to agree to the advanced biddings. The
old partners would have proceeded and possibly would

ROBERT OWEN 127

have gone beyond my estimation, but they could not
induce Mr. Colin Campbell, their intended new partner,
to advance one bid more.

Mr. John Atkinson, who had been a partner with me
in the establishment from the beginning, and who there-
fore best knew its value, went immediately from the
sale room, while his feelings were highly excited, to Mr.
Finlay (who had returned to his business before the sale
had concluded), and said, with great emphasis — " Con-
" found that Owen ! He has bought it, and twenty
" thousand pounds too cheap ! " These were the part-
ners who for so many months had been crying down the
value of the establishment, and saying they would be
glad to get forty thousand pounds for it !

But this was not the only disappointment my op-
ponents experienced that day. Having previously, as
has been stated, invited a large party to dine with them
on that day, to rejoice with and to congratulate them on
becoming the sole proprietors of New Lanark, — they
could not countermand the dinner and their invitations.
Their friends met accordingly. The dinner was sump-
tuous, and the wines were various and choice. But when
the company met, the spirits of the principals were below
zero, and, as I was afterwards informed by some who
were present, the dinner passed almost in silence.

A Colonel Hunter (a good, honest, frank, straight-
forward man, proprietor of one of the newspapers of
Glasgow, and a talented person) was one of the guests.
He was very popular with the leading parties in the
city, and by no means unfriendly to me. By the time
the cloth was drawn, and the wine and the time for
toasts had arrived. Colonel Hunter had acquired a
knowledge of the result of the day's sale, and of all its
particulars. He saw at once the false position in wiiich
the parties had placed themselves. That they were
baffled in their scheme which they had supposed so well
laid, and had ruined their reputation by this want of
success. Had they succeeded, they would, in the
estimation of commercial men, have stood higher than
ever. But, as I have said, the Colonel was a straight-

128 THE LIFE OF

forward, bold, honest man, and feared no one ; and he
was determined to make these parties feel the new
position in which they had placed themselves. He
therefore asked permission to propose a toast, which
was readily acceded to, and he gave " Success to the
" parties who had that morning sold a property by public
" sale for one hundred and fourteen thousand one
" hundred pounds, which a little time ago they valued
" only at forty thousand pounds ! " adding, " Fill a
" bumper to a success so wonderful and extraordinary ! "
His toast, however, instead of arousing the spirits of my
opponents, acted, I was told, as an additional damper.
Seeing this, the Colonel followed it up by saying,
" What an enormous good bargain they had made, and
" how happy they must think themselves to be freed
" from Robert Owen's visionary schemes, and to get
" out of him such a large profit." And in this manner
he kept all the evening before them the contrast between
their former pri^, which they would have been too
happy to receive, and the one hundred and fourteen
thousand one hundred pounds which they had obtained.
In this manner he continued to annoy them during the
evening.

They had engaged Mr. Humphreys to be their
manager, and had brought him to the dinner, and
thinking him to be my mainstay in the management of
the works at New Lanark, they tempted him that night
to leave me, and promised to find him a superior and
more profitable situation. This was in the spirit of
revenge on the part of Mr. Dennistown and Mr. Alexander
Campbell, because their father-in-law preferred to in-
trust his money with me, rather than with them.

They had married cousins of Mrs. Owen, and were
therefore relatives ; and I now began to feel much for
their new position, and I would willingly have served
them if I could, and if they would have allowed me to
do so But their anger and revenge seemed to increase
with every movement of my subsequent success, until
their deaths, which took place within a year from the
sale of the mills, and which I believe was occasioned by

ROBERT OWEN 129

the disappointment and vexation arising from it and
from the other circumstances which followed and pro-
ceeded from it. These were occurring continually to
annoy them. Even the first morning after the sale, it
appeared in the Glasgow newspapers that the inhabitants
of New Lanark had arranged to have a party waiting in
Glasgow to learn the result of the sale, and to proceed
by express to inform them who had become the pur-
chaser of the establishment, and that when the express
announced to them that I had bought it, there was an
immediate universal illumination, except in the house
occupied by Mr. Humphreys, who had been bribed by
the other parties, and who was then dining with them
in Glasgow, and who had gone down in the morning
expecting to return the next day as sole manager of
New Lanark, under the direction of the intended new
firm of Messrs. Dennistown, Campbell, and Atkinson.

Mr. Humphreys had great cause afterwards to regret

this defection from one who had been his best friend for

ii more than twenty years. He could serve under good

I direction, but could never succeed when left to his own

resources.

The newspapers informed him and his new masters of

this illumination, and of the great rejoicings of the

ij workpeople on account of the works being again pur-

i chased by me.
But my opponents thought they had one chance yet
left, and for one day they entertained the hope that the
new parties who had associated with me would not be
found sufficiently wealthy to give the security required
I to make good the purchase. In this hope also they
were disappointed. For when I declared who were the
i purchasers, it was soon discovered that one of them,
Mr. John Walker, of Arno's Grove, Southgate, could him-
self purchase the whole establishment twice over.

The honourable simplicity of this gentleman's character

was exemphfied at our first meeting. I had previously

published my first four essays entitled New View oj

I Society. The first two were published in 1812, and

the last two early in 1813. He had read them, and had

9

130 THE LIFE OF

heard that I was about to form a new partnership, of
persons wilhng to engage to carry forward the estabhsh-
ment on the principle of educating the children and
improving the general condition of the workpeople.
Mr. Walker was a most disinterested benevolent man,
highly educated, possessing great taste in the arts,
himself a superior amateur artist, well versed in the
sciences, and a perfect gentleman, in mind, manner, and
conduct, throughout his hfe. He had never been in
any business, and was untainted with any of its de-
teriorating effects. He was born of very wealth}^
parents, who were of the Society of Friends, but who
under peculiar circumstances allowed him to go with
and under the direction of a superior accomplished
person, a friend of the family, to finish his education
from the age of twelve at Rome, where he remained
several years, and made the best possible use of his time.
He had been the least injured by the present false system
of forming character and constructing society, of all
whom I have met through my long life in this or any
other country. He possessed a good town house in
Bedford Square, and a superior country house, called
Arno's Grove, the former residence of Lord Newbery.
He had greatly improved it, had accumulated a greater
variety of exotics in his pleasure ground, and had in his
museum probably one of the choicest collections of
specimens of various objects of natural history, that any
private gentleman possessed. He was considered to be
a member of the Society of Friends ; but in his language,
habits, and external appearances in dress and carriage,
he could not be distinguished from others of liis standing
in society, except for his correct taste in all his arrange-
ments and appointments.

Our first interview was characteristic of this extra-
ordinary, superior, and good man. He had heard that I
was about to form a new partnership to forward measures
in which I was engaged to improve the condition of the
working classes, and thus gradually to open a new view
of a very superior state of society to all classes. He
therefore applied through some of his friends to have

ROBERT OWEN 131

an interview with me. respecting my intended new
partnership at New Lanark. We met, and after being
introduced, he said — " I have been informed that you
" are about to commence a new partnership at New
" Lanark, with the view of showing how much our
" manufacturing population might be improved, bene-
" ficially for themselves, their employers, and the
" country. May I ask if my information is correct, and
" if it is, what are the arrangements which you propose ? "
I said — " I propose to form a partnership of thirteen
" shares — each share to be ten thousand pounds ; and
" I intend to hold five of those shares, and that over
" five per cent, for our capital and risk, the surplus gains
" shall be freely expended for the education of the
" children and the improvement of the workpeople at
" New Lanark, and for the general improvement of the
"condition of the persons employed in manufactures."
He replied — " Will you allow me to take three shares ? "
Having been informed of his character, respectability,
and responsibility, I immediately assented ; and this
was all that passed on his placing thirty thousand pounds
at my disposal. He continued in the firm until his
death, but never saw the establishment.

Another member of the Society of Friends who joined
me in this good work was Joseph Foster of Bromley — a
man without guile, possessed with the genuine spirit of
charity and kindness, and who had one of the most
expanded and liberal and well-informed minds, next to
Mr. John Walker, last named, that I ever met with
among the Society of Friends. He was ever a universal
peace maker, and, with the previous exception, less a
sectarian than any of the Society of Friends known to
me, although I was introduced to and made acquainted
with the leading members of the Society. He had one
of the ten thousand pound shares.

A third partner was also of the Society of Friends — the

well-known William Allen, of Plough Court, Lombard

Street. He was active, bustling, ambitious, most

I desirous of doing good in his own way (as a large majority

■ of the Quakers are), and had kind feelings and high

132 THE LIFE OF

aspirations; but he was easily impressible, and was
therefore much more unsteady in mind and feeling than
the two preceding partners. He was, however, at this
time popular, and a great favourite among his sect,
and one of its chief leaders. He had one share allotted
to him,— for his friends John Walker and Joseph Foster
were very desirous that he should join our party.

The next who applied for a share in this unique under-
taking was the celebrated Jeremy Bentham, who spent a
long life in an endeavour to amend laws, all based on a
fundamental error, without discovering this error ; and
therefore was his life, although a life of incessant well-
intended industry, occupied in showing and attempting to
remedy the evils of individual laws, but never attempting
to dive to the foundation of all laws, and thus ascertaining
the cause of the errors and evils of them. He had little
knowledge of the world, except through books, and a
few deemed liberal-minded men and women, who were
admitted to his friendship— such as James Mill, Dr.
Bowring, Mr. and Mrs. Austin, Francis Place, Lord
Brougham, and a few others ;— and these formed his
world. It was most amusing to me to learn the difficulty,
owing to his nervous temperament, that he had in
making arrangements for our first interview after I
had agreed to accept him as one of our associates in the
New Lanark firm. After some prehminary communi-
cation with our mutual friends James Mill and Francis
Place, his theij two chief counsellors, and some corre-
spondence between him and myself, it was at length
arrived at that I was to come to his hermit-like retreat
at a particular hour, and that I was, upon entering, to
proceed upstairs, and we were to meet half-way upon
the stairs. I pursued these instructions, and he, in
great trepidation, met me, and taking my hand, while
his whole frame was agitated with the excitement, he
hastily said—" Well ! well ! it is all over. We are
" introduced. Come into my study ! " And when I
was fairly in, and he had requested me to be seated, he
appeared to be relieved from an arduous and formidable
undertaking. He had one share, and his friends have

> ROBERT OWEN 133

stated that it was the only successful enterprise in which
he ever engaged. He, like Mr. Walker, never saw the
New Lanark estabhshment.

The next share was given to Joseph Fox, a dentist, a
friend of William Allen — a respectable well-intentioned
dissenter, of some denomination, from the Church of
England.

The last share was given, at the urgent request of
the last named (Joseph Fox) to his relative Mr. Michael
Gibbs, subsequently the well-known Church-Warden,
Alderman, and Lord Mayor — a Church of England man,
a conservative, and a man, as I believe, of good intentions,
fair abilities, and business habits.

Three of these gentlemen — Joseph Foster, William
Allen, and Michael Gibbs — were, until after the sale,
since my arrival m Glasgow, incognito. But the day
after the sale they declared themselves my partners,
and who the others were. This declaration put a
termination to the last hopes of my former partners, who
clung to the expectation that they might have'some
pretence to object to the parties who had united with
me in the purchase at the sale.

The necessary writings to transfer the property from
the one party to the other detained my new partners
and myself some days in Glasgow before they were all
ready and legally executed. In the meantime the in-
habitants of New Lanark waited my return to them
with impatience, and begged I would let them know
when they might expect me. As soon as I could ascertain
when our business would be completed, I informed them
of the day appointed for my return. We went to Lanark
in a coach with four horses — it being then two heavy
stages, and the last a rise of nearly seven hundred feet,
bat through a beautiful district. The inhabitants of
the old and new towns of Lanark had sent scouts to
watch our progress, and to give information by signals
how far we had advanced. It was a line day, and we
had the carriage opened in order that my new friends
might see the country. When we arrived within a few
miles of the Royal Burgh of the Old Town of Lanark,

134 THE LIFE OF

we heard a great shout at some distance, and we soon
saw a great multitude running towards us, which at first
much alarmed my Quaker friends. I did not know
what to think of the number of people and the noise
which they made on approaching us. They called out
to the postillions to stop the horses, and before we were
aware of their intentions they had untraced the horses
from the carriage, had desired the postillions to take
them on to Lanark, and, heedless of our urgent entreaties,
they began to drag the carriage, and now it was up hill
almost the whole distance to the Old Town through
which we had to pass. But their numbers were such,
and they relieved each other so continually, that they
went forw^ard quicker than our horses could have dragged
us up those steep hills.

On looking at them I was surprised at seeing at first
few faces that I knew, and therefore I could not well
understand the movement. But I soon learned that
the inhabitants of the Old Town had requested to be
allowed to join the inhabitants of the village of New
Lanark in the demonstration of kind feeling and of
rejoicing on the return of the old manager and proprietor
to his old residence and establishment, and had begged
that they, the Old Lanarkers, should have what they
called the honour and pleasure of conveying the carriage
and its inmates to their Royal Burgh, and that then the
inhabitants of the village should take us from Old
Lanark to the establishment. This arrangement ac-
counted for the many faces new to me.

The hurraing of the people, and their joyous excite-
ment along the road, aroused the attention of the whole
country to discover the cause of such rejoicings and
unusual proceedings. At length the procession arrived
at Old Lanark, where our reception from all, the windows
and doors being filled with women and children and old
people, was most cordial. I was greatly amused with
the perfect amazement and astonishment of my Quaker
friends, who had never before been in the midst of such
an exciting scene ; but after their alarm had subsided
they became more and more interested and pleased to

ROBERT OWEN 135

see so much strong feeling exhibited for their new partner.
But when the New I.anarkers took the direction of the
carriage and procession from the Old Town to the New,
and then taking us through all the streets of the village
and back again through the grounds to my residence at
Braxfield, about a quarter of a mile out of the village,
they were almost overcome with the gratitude, affection,
and delight, which were expressed in the countenances
of the parties from the windows and in the street, and
with the varied means by which they endeavoured to
greet and welcome our arrival among them. My new
partners seemed to congratulate themselves that they
had become connected with such people and such an
establishment. It was a day and proceeding which I
shall never forget. It interested me deeply, and, if
possible, increased my determination to do them and
their children all the good in my power.

I never was ambitious of popular applause. I generally
sought to avoid it. But on this occasion, thus taken
l:)y surprise, and thus welcomed by parties whom I had
directed for fourteen years, I was truly gratified, and
also on account' of my new partners witnessing the
spontaneous feelings of the people. The unsophisticated
expression of these strong feelings was the more un-
expected from a Scotch population when the change
was from a majority of Scotch proprietors to a firm
exclusively English. But so it was, and my new
partners, after remaining some days with me, returned
liome delighted -with their mission, and they highly
gratified the other London partners by their description
of it.

But it was not so with my late partners. Some party
had sent to the Glasgow newspapers a full account of
our procession and extraordinary proceedings, and this
was a new source of very great annoyance to them.
And this annoyance was increased not a little, when
upon balancing the accounts of our four years' partner-
ship, it was found, after allowing five per cent, for the
capital employed, that the net profit was one hundred
and sixty thousand pounds.

136 THE LIFE OF

I had now a new field opening to me, and I prepared
to make the most of it to forward the improvements
which I contemplated. The most mgent were the
arrangements I had so long contemplated to improve
the conditions in which the youngest children of the
workpeople were now placed, and to introduce another
principle on which to form their character and conduct,
their training and education.

I therefore commenced by hastening the building for
the intended infant and other schools, and began to
devise measures of relief for all engaged as workers in
manufactories — seeing as I did how much, in many
respects, they were injured and deteriorated by the
change from the former more independent domestic
mode of spinning and weaving at home, to being em-
ployed like slaves in large factories.

But I must now return to bring up other parts of my
history to this period, at which my public life may be
said to have fairly commenced.

I have said that Mr. Dale left four daughters some
years younger than Mrs. Qwen. Mrs. Dale having died
when her eldest daughter was only twelve years old, the
latter had the care of the house and of her younger
sisters from that period. Mr. Dale being at the head
of a numerous dissenting sect, and Mrs. Dale from a
religious family, the children had what is called a thorough
good religious education, and had the kind and amiable
disposition of their father — Mrs. Dale having died six
or seven years before I knew the family. But I always
understood that she also was amiable and religious.
Their general acquaintances and more intimate friends
were therefore naturally professors of religion, and
much time was occupied in what the family had been
taught to think were their public and private religious
duties. While other parts of education were deemed of
far less importance, and had been therefore less attended
to during Mr. Dale's life. After his death, the four younger
sisters lived with us for some years. Their names were
Jane, Mary, Margaret, and Julia.

About a quarter of a mile from the New Lanark Mills

ROBERT OWEN 137

was Braxfield House, the seat and birthplace of the late
and then well-known Lord of Session, until he received
the title of Lord Braxfield. This judge of the Supreme
Court of Scotland was dead but unburied when I took
possession of the New Lanark establishment. He had
been very friendly to Mr. Dale, gave him great encourage-
ment to establish his works near to him, and was to his
death an excellent neighbour. He entailed the Braxfield
property on his family ; and his eldest son, Mr. Macqueen,
who had married Lady Lilias, the daughter of the late
Earl of Eglington, succeeded to his property, and had
possessed it about eight years, when they offered to rent
it to me ; and as the house at the mills had become too
small for my family, with the increase of Mrs. Owen's
sisters and the necessary increase of servants, I took it
upon the longest lease Mr. Macqueen could give by the
clauses of the entail by which he held it.

We regretted the loss of this family ; for they were
always good and kind neighbours, especiaDy Lady
Lilias, who was more generally at home than Mr.
Macqueen.

It was a beautifully situated residence, and I improved
the grounds immediately after I entered upon the house.
This was now our summer residence, and in winter we
occupied the house Mr. Dale had built and had lived in
many years and until his death. We kept our own
carriage and horses, and also a carriage and horses and
servants for my sisters-in-law. Our establishment there-
fore became an expensive one.

Discovering that a mere religious education was a
very imperfect one for the general association of society,
I determined that Mrs. Owen's sisters, who after their
father's death came naturally under our charge, should
have also the advantages of a more extended secular
education, such as was then given in the most select
seminaries for young ladies in England. But first, that
they might see and know their own country, I took
them soon after their father's death a tour over Scotland
and England, and visited in both countries every place
deserving the attention of young travellers ; and after

138 THE LIFE OF

they had remained three or four years with us, I sought
for some time to find superior houses of instruction in
London, in which they could finish their education, and
I visited many educational establishments before I could
satisfy myself that they were select and substantial for
the purpose required, and were not mere pretences.
That the four might make a more rapid progress, they
were divided into pairs — the two eldest, Jane and Mary,
were placed with Mrs. Olier, Grosvenor Street, and

Margaret and Julia with Miss Lane in . In these

more private and select seminaries the four remained
for some years, and longer than was anticipated when
they went. They put off their return quarter after
quarter, finding their situations comfortable and
improving ; for both the establishments proved equal
to the recommendations received of them, and to my
expectations on previously visiting and inspecting them.

They returned home in the year , and we had

kept up their full establishment at Braxfield ready to
receive them from a much earlier period than that at
which they returned. The Jadies with whom they were,
advised them at the termination of each quarter to
continue to proceed with and to finish their studies,
and as they were now of sufficient age they were left to
decide for themselves.

Mr. Dale some years before his death had purchased
a country residence called Rosebank, about four miles
from Glasgow, on one of the roads leading to New
Lanark, and which we occupied after his death. This
estate afterwards, in the division of the property, was
given to these young ladies. After they returned home
they were eagerly sought in marriage ; but although
several opportunities were given them to marry men of
wealth and superior standing in the commercial world,
they for some time rejected every offer made to them.,
and they seemed disinclined to engage themselves until
they had seen more of the world. I then took them to
France, Switzerland, and Germany, and they were
introduced to some of the most eminent men and women
of that day in those countries.

ROBERT OWEN 139

Previous to this tour on the Continent, the third in
age of the four, Margaret, died, greatly lamented by us
all, for there was a sincere and cordial affection between
all the members of the family. There appeared to be but
one heart and mind and interest among them, until they
were separated by the marriage of the two eldest.

The Rev. James Haldane Stewart, a relative of Mrs.
Owen's family by the mother's side, was the first who
successfully paid his addresses to Mary, the second
unmarried. He was after some time accepted by her,
and they were married while Mary and her two other
sisters were living with us, and I gave her away on the
day of her marrriage, and we accompanied them on their
marriage tour for some days.

The eldest of the four, Jane, was also, not long after-
wards, married to a cousin, who also, with Mr. Stewart,
was an EvangeHcal clergyman of the Church of England,
and was son of the late General Colin Campbell, formerly
Governor Commandant of Gibraltar, under his Royal
Highness the late Duke of Kent.

Juha, the youngest, was so strongly attached to her
sister Jane, and Jane to her, that they would not be
separated, and they have always lived together through
their Uves to the present time.

I had always, since I first knew these children of my
own bringing up, until they were married, a great affec-
tion for them, and a strong interest in their welfare, but
these marriages naturally altered our relative positions,
and although a continued affection was kept up between
all the famines, — yet as my mission and the mission of
Mr. Stewart and Mr. Campbell, who were as zealous and
conscientious in their cause as I have been in mine,
were so opposite to each other, our visits and intercourse
were less frequent than they would have been had our
views of human nature and society been similar.

They, I have no doubt, sincerely and affectionately
lament my disbehef in the truth of any of the reUgions
of the world. While I as sincerely and affectionately
lament the imbecihty of mind which instruction from
birth in any of these rehgions inflicts on all who are

140 THE LIFE OF

thereby made conscientious believers in any one of
them. These rehgions are the cause of creating less
charity for opinions, and more repulsive feelings for
mere imaginary notions, incomprehensible to every one,
than all other causes united. I felt that the intercourse
between us was one of continued forbearance on both
sides. Each knew the other's conscientious convictions ;
each respected the feelings of the other ; and each was
in constant fear of unintentionally hurting the feelings
of the other. Under these circumstances our visits
became less and less frequent, although my affection for
my sisters-in-law remains unabated.

It was long amusing and gratifying, at an earlier
period, to receive letters from my dear and truly affec-
tionate sister Mary, who, after her kind sayings in the
first portion of her letters, always concluded with the
most earnest solicitude that I would believe in her faith ;
never suspecting that belief is in no one's power, and
that therefore there can be no merit or demerit in any
faith or belief whatever. I was always gratified by her
extreme anxiety for my conversion, for I was sure she
ever retained a sincere affection for me, as did her sisters,
all of whom were most desirous I should think on religious
matters as they did. There could not be more amiable,
affectionate, well-intentioned young persons than they
always proved themselves to be ; and yet after the mar-
riages of the two elder to the church, our intercourse
gradually diminished after the death of their eldest
sister.

It is true that rehgions have been and to this day are
the strongest causes of repulsive feelings between indi-
viduals and nations ; and while any of these deranging
systems of the human intellects shall be forced into the
young mind by the insane contending sects over the
world, the spirit of universal charity and love must
remain unknown among all nations and ]ieoj)les. Living
for so many years as I did, owing to my marriage and my
various partnerships, with religious persons of various
sects, I became too conscious of the deteriorating in-
fluences upon the individuals, and upon the constniction

ROBERT OWEN 141

and practice of society. It made nie glaringly aware
that these religions materially injured the finest natural
qualities, and that while any of them prevailed, they
would be a permanent obstacle to the peace, progress in
knowledge, charity, and love, and happiness of the
human race. I vividly perceived and was made con-
scious of these effects through every day. of my life,
from the time I attained my tenth year. ^ Religions are
to-day the great repulsive powers of society ; dividing
husbands and wives, parents and children, brothers and
sisters ; and are ever-burning firebrands wherever they
exist. For proof to demonstration of this — witness the
present state of mind, feelings, and conduct, of all the
religions in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America. The
being who shall devise the means to terminate these
spiritual insanities will be the greatest friend to the
human race that has yet lived. \

From an early period of life, seeing the innumerable
evils daily experienced from the error on which all
rehgions have ever been based, knowing the immense
and incalculable happiness that the human race could
attain if freed from them, and being made ardently to
f desire the future progress in knowledge and rational
enjoyment of my race, — there is no sacrifice at any period,
which I could make, that would not have been wiUingly
and joyously made to terminate the existence of religion
on earthj WilHngly and joyously — because I should
have ha3 far more happiness in sacrificing my life,
knowing that my race should be thus placed in the
right path to peace, progress, wisdom, and happiness,
than I could have in living among my fellow-men while
made to become irrational by those rehgions. The
rehgions of all sects have no charity or true affection for
those they deem unbelievers. While unbelievers in
their dogmas, who know the cause of the beliefs of all
the religions and of all the convictions over the world,
have charity for them all ; and seeing that these dogmas
are opposed to facts, and are inconsistent with ascertained
truths, pity those who believe in them in proportion to
their ignorance of what constitutes truth. The rehgious

J

142 THE LIFE OF

over the world have less charity for the opinions of those
who differ from them, than those who are irreligious from
a true knowledge of human nature have for those persons
whose instruction has made them to be of some one of
these insane compounds of belief, which are all equally
called religion.

Having been so many years in the midst of these so-
called very pious proceedings, I was made but too
conscious of their deteriorating and baneful effects upon
the judgment or rational faculties of the kindest and
best dispositions, and of the abject prostration of mind
in the teachers of these absurdities.

One of the most generally learned, intelligent, and
acute men I have met with, was Ramoun Roy, to whom
for some time, while he was the guest of the Messrs. Hare
of Bedford Square, we were next door and very intimate
neighbours ; — and we were mutually much attached to
each other. After our minds had been fully opened to
each other, I asked him (as he stated that he knew
accurately, having long studied them, all the religions
of the East and West that had made any lasting progress
in society) if he knew one in which the priests did not
say — " Believe as I tell you to believe, disbelieve what
" I tell you to disbelieve, reverence me, and pay me well,
" and you will go to heaven when you die. But if you
" do not these things, you will be everlastingly punished."
He hesitated for some time, and then said — " I have
" recurred to all the religions I know, and I must admit
" that that which you have stated is the essence of each
" of them." But more of Ramoun Roy hereafter.

In everything I attempted for the advance and per-
manent benefit of the human race, and in the very best
objects, I was always checked and obstructed in my
straightforward and honest progress by religion, I was
always thus obliged to take a devious course, and to
obtain thereby a less perfect result. 1

By this period of my life (from 1810 to 1815), my four
Essays on the Formation of Character, and my practice
at New Lanark, had made me well known among the
leading men of that period. Among these were the

ROBERT OWEN 143

Archbishop of Canterbury, — the Bishop of London,
afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, — Burgess, Bishop
of St. David's, — Mr. Wilberforce, — W. Godwin, — Thomas
Clarkson, — Zachary Macaulay, — Mr. Thornton, banker,
— ^Wilham Allen, — Joseph Foster, — Hoare, senr., banker,
— the first Sir Robert Peel, — Sir Thomas Bernard and his
particular friend the Bishop of Durham, Barrington, —
the Rev. William Turner of Newcastle, — Mr. Wellbeloved,
Principal of the Manchester College in York, — the Bishop
of Peterborough, — and many others whose names have
faded from society, and many whom I have forgotten.
But I must not forget my friends of the political econo-
mists— Messrs. Malthus, James Mill, Ricardo, Sir James
Macintosh, Colonel Torrens, Francis Place, etc., etc.
From these political economists, often in animated dis-
cussions, I always differed. But our discussions were
maintained to the last with great good feeling and a
cordial friendship. They were liberal men for their time ;
friends to the national education of the people, but
opposed to national employment for the poor and unem-
ployed, or to the gi^eatest creation of real wealth, — ^which
surprised me in men who professed to desire the greatest
amount of wealth to be produced, but which could only
be effected by the well-directed industry at all times of all.
It was a singular circumstance that in my discussions
with Mr. Malthus, which were frequent (and my own
impression was that at last he became very doubtful of
the truth of principles which he had so ingeniously main-
tained), Mrs. Malthus always took and defended my side
of the argument.

So with Sir James Macintosh. He used to say that
after Lady and Miss Macintosh had visited New Lanark
they became my warm disciples, and that they always
vindicated the principles and practices of human nature
agj advocated them.

' I was always at a loss to account for the tenacity with
which these men of considerable natural powers held to
the principle of not preparing national reproductive or
beneficial occupation for all who required it ; and I
could account for it only on the knowledge that there was

144 THE LIFE OF

not one practical man among the party of modern
political economists. Their views and false principles
have governed the administrations of this country and
have influenced public opinion for the whole of this
century ; and a more artificial and miserable existence,
or more hypocrisy in general society, is not to be found,
amid all its surface splendour, than in Great Britain and
Ireland at this day. There is no heart or soul in the
general intercourse of society ; and instead of the open,
direct, frank, and most beneficial and delightful language
of truth — of mind speaking without reserve to mind ;
the common practice of the great majority of society in
public and private is a mere conventional talk^ meaning
little or nothing, or else falsehood. The most important
truths relative to the essential business and happiness of
life, are tabooed in general society ; and its talk is a
confused mass of incongruous and most inconsistent
ideas about morality and religion, respecting which none
appear to have been taught one rational idea ; because
they have been precluded so long by the priesthoods of
the world from investigating their own nature — an in-
vestigation to enable them to discover what manner of
beings they have been created to be. And therefore
nature has been and is outraged in all proceedings con-
nected with the human race. At this day, all their
proceedings over the world are grossly irrational for the
attainment of the object which all have in view — namely,
their own happiness. For the creation of happiness for
the human race, two things have been always required.

Firstly. — A really good character for all from birth
to death.

Secondly. — A superfluity of real wealth at all times
for all.

Because the arrangements or conditions (or as some
would say the "circumstances") which are necessary
to produce and secure these results, would give in per-
petuity to the human race all that they could desire as
mortals upon our globe.

But all the authorities of the world, from the earliest
known period, have been ignorant how to form the

ROBERT OWEN 145

arrangements, or to create the conditions or circumstances
by which these two results could be attained. And
hence alone the present poverty, vice, and misery of
mankind over the world. All parties in all countries are
now like hounds at fault in hunting for their game. They
feel that the good and superior character is necessary for
happiness. They feel that wealth is necessary for their
happiness. They desire to attain both. They are
anxiously in search of them. While the priesthood of
the world, owing to their own misinstruction, give a
wrong direction to the human faculties, and thus prevent
the possibility of the authorities of the world discovering
where they are at fault, and how to attain the path
which alone leads to the knowledge which they all seek.

The discovery which has been made of the sciences by
which both these results are to be obtained, makes this
the most glorious era in the life of man. For it will lead
him direct to the road to that happiness which his nature
has been made strongly to desire, and which to this day
he has evidently sought in vain.

An imperfect development of the human faculties
when humanity was in its infant state, created the
necessity for a priesthood, with its good and evil conse-
quences. As the development advanced, and as real
knowledge grew from the accurate observation of facts,
the error of one priesthood after another became too
obvious to be maintained by the most advanced minds,
, and new religions were to be invented, less obviously
erroneous. And as the certain or fixed sciences were
discovered and progressed, the belief in, or the reliance
upon, these latter inventions diminished, until now, in
the minds of the most advanced in substantive knowledge
derived from facts, religious feelings, of the old character
of religion, have not only ceased altogether, but the evils
now everywhere produced by the obstructions which they
create to the formation of a good and superior character
for all, are seen to be, as they are, the greatest of all
existing evils. And until they shall be overcome, and
the human mind shall be cleared from all religiousfallacies
and all dependence upon religious forms and ceremonies ^
10

146 THE LIFE OF

it will be vain to expect to make the human race to
think and act rationally, or to look for anything approach-
ing to general permanent happiness.

The first consideration with the leading minds of the
world should be, how to combine the conditions which
can insure from birth the formation of a good and rational
character for the human race, and to unite with these
(for they cannot exist separately) the conditions to
create wealth at all times in superfluity for all. This
combination is unknown even to the most advanced in
all countries, and has now to be taught to all, and it is
by far the most important lesson that the human race
has to acquire. When men can be taught to create and
combine the conditions to properly cultivate all the
faculties, propensities, and powers of human nature,
and to train all in the habit of exercising all of them
regularly to the point of temperance for each faculty and
propensity, — then, and only then, will men know how to
form a good, valuable, and superior character for all, or
to train man to beconle a rational being. And when
they shall be taught to create and combine with these
conditions, others which will enable all to produce
superior and intrinsically valuable wealth in abundance
for all, at all times, then will mankind become rational,
and make a greater progress in real knowledge and per-
manent happiness in one year, than under existing con-
ditions they can make in a century, — or, indeed, as
long as the present irrational conditions, emanating from
a false fundamental principle, or rather imagination,
shall be maintained by the erroneously instructed
authorities of the world.

The great defect which exists in all countries is the
false instruction given to those who have to govern,
whether in churches or states ; and this great evil has
now to be overcome. But not to be overcome by force,
or by abusive language. Reason and common sense are
the true and only weapons which can ever succeed. All
that have conscious life have been created to desire
happiness. The authorities of the world in churches and
states desire to attain happiness. It is impossible that

ROBERT OWEN 147

the individual members of any church or state can acquire
anything approaching to permanent happiness under the
false and artificial conditions under which all of them are
placed. While under other conditions, based on a true
knowledge of the laws of human nature, each one may be
made to become from birth rational and consistent in
principle and practice, natural in all their proceedings and
conduct, and permanently happy through life.

Knowing and feeling as I did the all-importance of
education for the mass, as a preliminary to the ultimate
true formation of character, I was so profuse or extrava-
gant, as I have stated, in my encouragement of Joseph
Lancaster and Dr. Bell, in their measures to make a
beginning in this country to give even the mite of in-
struction to the poor which their respective systems
proposed to do, because I trusted that a beginning might
be made to lead on gradually to something substantial
and permanently beneficial to society.

Mj- next move in this direction was to encourage
Lancaster to come to Scotland (where the new manu-
facturing system was involving the children of the
working classes in new conditions, unfavourable to
I knowledge, to health, and to happiness), to create a
public opinion to assist to counteract these evils. He
came to Glasgow in 1812, and a great public dinner was
to be given to introduce him into Scotland, as a great
friend to the instruction of the poor on a new invented
economical plan, by which one man could instruct a
thousand children, n^

Joseph Lancaster was now becoming well known and
celebrated for this mechanical invention and instruction,
and (his arrival in Glasgow created much excitement)
among the friends to the education of the poor. Lan-
caster, knowing that I was acquainted with the peculiar
customs and rehgious prejudices of the Societ}^ of Friends,
of which he was a member, made it a. special condition,
before he could consent as a Quakerito attend a public
dinner for his reception into Scotland^ that I would con-
sent to be its chairman. This office was quite new to me.
I believed myself unequal to the task, and was umviliing

■^

148 THE LIFE OF

to undertake it. But the meeting, owing to Mr. Lan-
caster's obstinacy, could not be held on any other con-
dition. I was therefore constrained to agree to his
wishes, and the Rev. Ralph Wardlaw, then the most
popular preacher and friend to the education of the poor
in Glasgow, was appointed croupier, or deputy-chairman.
At this period I was on the most friendly terms with
many of the professors of the universities of Edinburgh
and Glasgow, and on this occasion I was supported on
the right and left by Professors Jardine and Mylne, two
who at that time stood high in public estimation. (It
was on announcing the object of the meeting in my
opening speech, that I first_declared in public my §^ti-
Xnents on the true formation ol character, anqfmy
princl|5l:e'Tliat man~was essentially fhe creature m/the
circumstances or conditions in which he was placeq/ and
that I advocated the necessity for preparing m.easures to
place the rising generation._witMft---^;eed--aad—superio r

ETrcumstances. \\ ^[Vhat'l then said took the meeting by
surpriseT^rnttTseemed electrified. The professors were
highly delighted, and the whole assembly became far
more enthusiastic in their continued applause when I con-
cluded, than I have ever witnessed in a Scotch audience ;
and I afterwards received from Mr. Kirkman Finlay,
then the great man in Glasgow, who was at the time in
London, a most flattering and encouraging letter. [My
speech is given in the Appendix.] )
7 This spontaneous ajBiHJOYal byji£-jumieixm&-literary
parties present, • and the reception given to ' Joseph
Lancast^rrJTiduced.iiie to_write my-j&nst four essays on
A New View of Society, and on the formation of character.
The first two essays were published at the end of t-his year
(1812), and the last two in the beginning of 1813.J

In all my projected improvements for educating and
improving the condition of the children and workpeople of
New Lanark, I had no coadjutors in my near connexions,
partners, or friends, until I formed my last partnership in
181 4. Previously one and all connected with and around
me, except Mr. Dale while he lived, opposed my views
with all the arguments they could muster against them ;

ROBERT OWEN 149

and I lost two sets of partners by persevering in what they
called my visionary plans. But when I published these
four essays on the formation of character, explanatory
of the principles and practices on which I had been
acting, I was surprised at the manner in which they were
received by the public, and especially by the higher
members of the then administration and of the churches ;
for the heads of both were most anxious to see them
previous to their publication. Lord Liverpool and his
Cabinet, with Dr. Sutton, the Archbishop of Canterbury,
and the English and Irish bishops of that day, were
favourable to my views and friendly to myself. My
chief communications at first were with the leading
members both in church and state ; for I wished them
to see and know all I was doing and intended to do,
being conscious that all parties from the highest to the
lowest would be benefited by my views of society,
whenever they should be carried fully and honestly into
practice.

When I had written the first two essays on the new
views, I gave them to read to the Archbishop of Canter-
bury, and when I had just finished in MS. the third and
fourth, I met the Archbishop and told him of my pro-
gress. He expressed a great desire to see them, and
asked me to bring them to Lambeth the next day, which
I did, and read to him the third essay, and then thought
that he would be too fatigued to hear the fourth also
at the one sitting. " No," he said, " I am too anxious
" to hear it, and I request you will proceed." I continued
to its conclusion, and saw as I read how much the subject
engaged his attention and interested his feelings. When
I had finished, he said, with the greatest kindness in his
manner, " I am sure, Mr. Owen, you will not desire me
" to express an opinion upon what you have now read.
" But I am deeply interested in the whole subject, as
" you have stated it, and I should be glad to learn from
" you from time to time how you succeed. Will you
" correspond with me ? "^ was then hving in Scotland,
either at New Lanark or at Rosebank near Glasgow.
But at that period several individuals had been and

150 THE LIFE OF

were then being prosecuted for publishing sentiments
and opinions less opposed to the existing order of things
than those expressed in these essays, and I intended to
pursue the subject until I could produce a public opinion
to change the fundamental principle on which society
was based, knowing that nothing short of that could
effect any substantial and permanent good for the
people of any country. I therefore hesitated for the
moment ; and the good and penetrating Archbishop
saw my embarrassment, and divined its cause, and
immediately added, " Perhaps you would not Hke to
" correspond with the ' Archbishop of Canterbury ' and
" would not object to communicate with Dr. Sutton." I
said I was much obliged to his grace for his consideration
of my position, for I could say things to Dr. Sutton that
I might hesitate to say to the Archbishop of Canterbury.
His grace replied — " Then Dr. Sutton will have pleasure
" in corresponding with Mr. Owen " ; and from that day
to his death the Archbishop was at all times most friendly
to me, and was perhaps the most liberal Archbishop of
Canterbury that has ever filled the office.

I also sent copies of the essays to Lord Liverpool, the
Prime Minister of that day, and afterwards requested an
interview with him respecting them, which he immediately
granted, fixing the next day for our meeting. It was
in his private house, in the drawing-room, and I found
Lady Liverpool with him, to whom he introduced me.
He said — " Mr. Owen, Lady Liverpool has been so
" interested in reading your Essays, that she has re-
" quested to be present at our conversation, as she takes
" a warm interest in these subjects. I hope you have no
" objection to her being present." I said — " Quite the
" reverse, my Lord ; for I am very desirous to induce
" the ladies to take into their consideration the cause
" which I advocate, and especially the subject of edu-
" cation, now becoming so useful, and so important to
" be given to all of the female sex." The conversation
was continued with much interest for a long period, and
Lady Liverpool, who aj^peared most amiable and
intelligent, gave great attention to it, and entered into

ROBERT OWEN 151

it with the spirit of a true philanthropist. She hoped
that much would be now done to ameliorate the con-
dition of the working classes, and to raise their characters.
Near the conclusion of our conversations, she said —
" We have a very promising young man just come to us,
" whom Lord Liverpool has made his private secretary, —
" he is the son of Sir Robert Peel, and is just come from
" the University.where he stood high at his examinations,
" and we have hope that he will attain distinction as he
" acquires experience." This was the lamented late Sir
Robert Peel, with whose father I was for many years
afterwards intimate and in almost daily communication.

I now formally communicated the four Essays to the
Government before I would publish them. They had
them examined and closely investigated, and their reply
to me afterwards was — " We see nothing to object to in
" them."

Lord and Lady Liverpool had previously expressed
their pleasure in reading and studying them, and their
strong approbation of them.

The members of the Government, represented by Lord
Sidmouth, who was secretary for the home department,
then said — " What do you now propose to do with the
" essays ? " I replied — " Being conscious that the views
" of society which I have advocated in them are much
" opposed to existing prejudices, and being very anxious
" not to mislead the public on subjects of such great
" permanent interest, and as to the changes they must
" lead to, I am most desirous not to be mistaken in the
" principles on which the proposed changes are based.
" I therefore recommend that measures should be
" adopted the most likely to detect any error which
" they may contain, and for this purpose I will, if the
" government approves, have two hundred copies printed,
" and bound with alternate blank leaves, and these copies
" you can send to the leading Governments of Europe
" and America, — to the most learned Universities in
" Europe, — and to such individuals as you may deem
" best calculated to form a sound judgment upon them,
" — requesting these parties to make any objections

152 THE LIFE OF

" upon the blank leaves which may occur to them, and se
" then to return them to you ; and that they should be
" afterwards supplied with other copies when perfected."
Lord Sidmouth said — "The proposal, Mr. Owen, is fair
" and honest, and if you will send the two hundred copies
" printed and so bound, they shall be sent as you have
" desired." They were supplied accordingly, and Lord
Sidmouth had them forwarded to the Governments,
Universities, and learned individuals. After due time
allowed, a considerable number of them were returned
to the Government, and I was sent for to examine what
was written on the blank leaves. I went carefully over
the remarks which had been written, but it was a matter
of surprise to Lord Sidmouth and myself, that among all
the observations returned, none of the writers directly
objected to any of the facts, principles, or conclusions,
but they only remarked that such other parties, naming
them, M'ould object to so and so.

As no objection of moment had been made directly
by any parties, and as the' Essays appeared to be generally
much approved of, Lord Sidmouth then asked me what
I proposed next to do with them. I replied — " To
" print and publish them, that they may undergo the
" ordeal of public opinion, — if the Government has no
" objection." His Lordship said — " None whatever.
" And when they are ready, pray send me a sufficient
" number for our bishops, and I will forward one to each."
They were sent to Lord Sidmouth, and he afterwards
told me that he had supplied one to each English arch-
bishop and bishop. The Archbishop of Armagh was in
London, and Lord Sidmouth said he would be pleased if
I would call upon him, which I did, and found with him
Mr. Edgeworth the author, the father of the celebrated
Miss Edgeworth. Mr. Edgeworth asked the Arch-
bishop if he might remain with us, for, he said, " I have
" read that man's works, and he has been in my brains
" and stolen all my ideas." We had much conversation,
and the parties appeared greatly interested with the
further explanation of my new views of society. The
interview ended by the Archbishop requesting me to

ROBERT OWEN 153

send him a sufficient number of copies for each of the
Irish bishops. And I conclude these paved the way
for the warm and cordial reception I afterwards ex-
perienced from them, when, in the year 1822-23, 1 visited
Ireland, and held my great public meetings there, in
Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Belfast, etc., etc.

At this period John Quincey Adams was the American
Minister to our Government, and when I was introduced
to him, a short time before he left this country, he
asked me for a sufficient number of copies of my Essays,
which were now become very popular, for the governor
of each state in the Union, and he would undertake that
they should be faithfully dehvered, and with his recom-
mendation. I sent them, and on my arrival some years
afterwards in the United States, I ascertained that they
had been received, and had prepared the way for the
general good reception which I met with from the
Government and many of the leading men and statesmen
of that country.

These Essays were so popular, that all the first pub-
lishers, both in the city and at the west end of the
metropolis, were ambitious to have their names attached
to them. Five superior editions were rapidly disposed
of under the sanction of their united firms, — Richard
Taylor and Company being the printers.

Finding the Essays were much valued by the first class
of minds, and wishing to place them in the highest
quarters, I had forty of them bound in the best manner
in which I could procure the first workman to bind them,
and of these I prevailed on the Government to send a
copy to each of the Sovereigns of Europe and to their
chief Minister, and thus they became generally known
among the highest class and most advanced minds before
1817. It was in 1813 -14 that the superiorly bound copies
were sent to the Sovereigns and their Prime Ministers,
while Napoleon Bonaparte was in Elba. At this period
I was much engaged in London with these measures,
and also in forming the new partnership with more
liberal and benevolent parties than my former commercial
men, — although many of these were good men, according

154 THE LIFE OF

to their notions of commercial goodness. While I was
thus employed, one of my sisters-in-law, Margaret, was
taken dangerously ill, and I was suddenly called home
on her account, where I was detained until after her
death and funeral.

I had left in London with Mr. Francis Place the re-
mainder of the superbly bound copies of my essays, for
him to take charge of until my return to town. While I
was absent, a general officer called upon Mr. Place, and
said — " I learn that Mr. Owen has sent copies of his work
" to the Sovereigns of Europe and to the authorities in
" America. I am on my way to Elba, and if you will
" intrust a copy with me for the Emperor Napoleon, I
" will undertake to put it into his own hands." Mr.
Place very judiciously gave him one of those copies,
and there is no doubt it was safely conveyed to him ;
for I learned afterwards from Sir Neil Campbell, British
Agent at Elba, through the following circumstances, that
Napoleon had received, it.

I was intimate with General Brown, who returned
from India after being forty years there, and I was a
frequent visitor and guest at his table. Of our party
was Mrs. Dyce, the wife of General Dyce, and sister to
Sir Neil Campbell. Both this lady and General Brown
took a warm interest in my New View, and when Sir
Neil returned from Elba after Napoleon's escape, Mrs.
Dyce was desirous that I should meet her brother Sir
Neil. For this purpose a dinner was given at No. 8
Curzon Street, by General Brown, that we might be intro-
duced, and Mrs. Dyce requested that I would bring a copy
of my Essays for her brother, which I did, and presented
the volume to him after dinner. He looked at it with
some surprise, and said, " I have certainly seen a copy of
" this before. Oh ! I recollect ! While I was at Elba,
" General Bertram came to me with a book in his hand,
" a copy of this work, and said he had been sent by
" Buonaparte, to ask me whether I knew the author,
" for he was much interested with its contents." (There
was much said about Napoleon in it.) " I looked at the
" title page, and said I did not know the work or the

ROBERT OWEN 155

" author, and Bertram appeared disappointed." I was
subsequently informed that Buonaparte had read and
studied this work with great attention, and had de-
termined on his return to power, if the Sovereigns of
Europe had allowed him to remain quietly on the throne
of France, to do as much for peace and progress, as he had
previously done for war, and that this was the cause of
his letters to the Sovereigns of Europe on his return, con-
taining proposals for peace instead of war. But they
knew not, and did not believe, that he had changed his
views and was sincere in his declaration. The result
of their refusal to listen to him is now matter of history,
and it is useless to speculate on what so extraordinary a
character would have done, had he been permitted to
rei^n over France in peace.

fHaving published and put into general circulation my
four Essays on the formation of character, and having
thus opened to the public my New View of Society, my
attention was directed to measures of a public character,
with a view to obtain some permanent substantial relief
for the children, young persons, and adults, employed
in the rising and rapidly increasing manufactories of
wool, cotton, flax, hemp, and silk, in which it had be-
come the practice to employ very young children, as
well as those of every age above them.' My experience
now (1815) had continued without ceasing for twenty-
five years in the cotton-manufacturing business, and
having at an early period freely opened the mills in which
I was interested to my brother cotton-spinners, and having
been the first spinner of fine cotton (that is, of thread
from No. 120 to upwards of No. 300), all the manufac-
tories of the kindgom were as freely opened to me, and
I visited most of them from north to south, to enable me
to form a correct judgment of the condition of the children
and workpeople employed in them. I thus saw the im-
portance of the machinery employed in th^se manufac-
tories and its rapid annual improvements. \ I also became .
vividly alive to the deteriorating condition of the young
children and others who were made the slaves of these
new mechanical powers. And whatever may be said

156 THE LIFE OF

to the contrary, bad and unwise as American slavery
is and must continue to be, the white slavery in the
manufactories of England was at this unrestricted period
far worse than the house slaves whom I afterwards saw
in the West Indies and in the United States, [and in many
respects, especially as regards health, food, and clothing,
the latter were much better provided for than were these
oppressed and degraded children and workpeople in
the home manufactories of Great Britain.

As employer and master manufacturer in Lancashire
and Lanarkshire, I had done all I could to lighten the
evils of those whom I employed ; yet with all I could do
under our most irrational system for creating wealth,
forming character, and conducting all human affairs, I
could only to a limited extent alleviate the wretchedness
of their condition, while I knew that society, even at this
period, possessed the most ample means to educate,
employ, place, and govern the whole population of the
British Empire, so a^ to make all into full-formed,
highly intelligent, united, and permanently prosperous
and happy men and women, superior in all physical and
mental qualities. In my own experience I had at this
time discovered the true principles of forming character,
and how easy it would be to give a good, useful, and
superior character to all of our race, by a consistent
rational application of those principles to practice over
the Empire. That the circumstances and means of
adaptation were not then prepared for such a change, and
it was evident that much more preparation must be made
before governments and people could be sufficiently
instructed and interested on this all - important subject,
and before they could be prepared for this new view of
society. Every step of my experience forced me more
and more strongly to feel the necessity of preparing
governments and people through a persevering system of
new instruction, to fit both for the change which I had
in view.

But so wedded were both to old superstitions, old
associations of ideas, and old habits, that the time re-
quired to adapt them to receive the principles and to

ROBERT OWEN 157

comprehend the practice greatly exceeded my early
anticipations. I thought previous to experience, that
the simple, plain, honest enunciation of truth, and of its
beautiful application to all the real business of life, would
attract the attention and engage the warm interest of
all parties ; and that the reformation of the population
of the world would be comparatively an easy task.
But, promising as many things appeared at first, as I
advanced I found superstitions and mistaken self-
interest so deeply rooted and ramified throughout society,
that they resisted the coup de grace which I now began
to prepare to give to them when matters could be
adapted to promise success.

In 1814 I had formed a new partnership with men
pledged to assist my views for the reformation of society
in my way in practice. I therefore commenced
measures accordingly. My first step was to call a meet-
ing of the manufacturers of Scotland in 1815, to be held
in the Tontine, Glasgow, to consider the necessity and
policy of asking the Government, then under Lord
Liverpool's administration, to remit the heavy duty then
paid on the importation of cotton, and to consider
measures to improve the condition of the young children
and others employed in the various textile manufactures
now so rapidly extending over the kingdom. The
meeting was presided over by the Lord Provost of
Glasgow, and was very numerously attended by the
leading manufacturers of that town. I stated to the
meeting my objects in calling it, and iirst proposed that
an application should be made to Government to remit
the tax upon the raw material of the cotton manufacture.
This was carried unanimously by acclamation. I then
proposed a string of resolutions to give relief to the chil-
dren and others employed in cotton, wool, flax, and silk
mills. They contained the same conditions which I
afterwards embodied in a Bill, which I induced the first
Sir Robert Peel to propose for me to the House of
Commons.

The propositions were read by me to the meeting ;
but although all were enthusiastically in favour of asking

/.

]

153 THE LIFE OF

for the remission oi the tax, not one would second my
motion for the rehcf of those whom they employed.
I then dechncd to proceed with them in the business of
the meeting, and it therefore came to nothing. But I
told them I should take my own course in both measures,
independently of them.

' rNew Lanark was now becoming the most celebrated
. estabhshment of the kind at home or abroad, and was
j visited by strangers from all i:)arts of the world, averag-
ing yearly, from that period until I left it to go to
the United States, ten years later, not less than two
thousand.!

On returning from the Glasgow meeting to this
establishment, I immediately sent to the Lord Provost
of Glasgow, as chairman of the meeting, a copy of the
address which I had read, and sent copies of it also to
the Government and to every member of both Houses of
Parliament. I also had it published in the London and
provincial press.

This address made ' me yet better known to the
Government, and was afterwards a passport for
me to all the members of both Houses of Parliament,
and it created a considerable sensation among the
upper classes and the manufacturing interest over the
kingdom.

As soon as I had made this address thus public, I pro-
ceeded to London to communicate with the Government,
and to learn what it would do on both subjects. I found
the impressions made by my address were favourable to
my views. I was referred to Mr. Nicholas Vansittart.
afterwards Lord Bexley, respecting the remission of the
tax. I was well received by him, and in our conversation
he asked me some question which I cannot now remember,
— but my prompt decided reply made him blush like
a sensitive maiden on account of his previous want of
knowledge on the subject. The tax was fourpence per
pound, and he said he would remit the whole, except
to the amount of a small portion of a penny, which he
said would be retained for some Government object or
arrangement.

ROBERT OWEN 159

The Government was also favourable to my views for
the relief of the children and others employed in the
growing manufactures of the kingdom, if I could induce
the members of both Houses to pass a Bill for the purpose.
This was a formidable task to attempt to effect ; for by
this time the manufacturing interest had become strong
in the House of Commons, and yet stronger in its out-of-
door influence with the members, whose election was
much under its control. But I made up my mind to try
what truth and perseverance could effect.

I waited personally on the leading members of both
Houses, and explained to them my object, which was to
give some relief to a most deserving, yet much oppressed
part of our population. I was in general well received,
and had much promise of support, especially from the
leaders of various sections into which parties were then
divided. Lord Lascelles, member for Yorkshire, after-
wards Earl of Harewood, and at that period the most
influential member of the House of Commons, offered me
his full assistance, and requested me to use his name
with mine in calling meetings of the members of both
Houses to promote my proposed Bill when introduced
into Parliament.

When by these means the leading members of both
Houses had become interested and were desirous the Bill
which I had prepared should be introduced, a final meet-
ing was conjointly called by Lord Lascelles and myself
of the members of both Houses who had taken with us
the greatest interest at former meetings to forward the
measure, now to consider, as I was not a member, who
should be requested to take charge of the Bill and to
introduce it into the House of Commons. The first Sir
Robert Peel was now a member of the House of Commons,
was an extensive manufacturer, and stood well with the
Government and the House generally. But I had never
applied to him or to any other manufacturer in the House,
and it was not known to the meeting how he might view
my proposals. The members present at this meeting
(which, with the previous ones, was held at the King's
Arms Hotel, New Palace Yard, Westminster, and was

l6o THE LIFE OF

numerously attended) suggested that if Sir Robert Peel
would introduce the Bill, he would be a very fit person to
carry it through the House of Commons. The meeting
wished to know whether I had any objection to Sir
Robert Peel's taking charge of the Bill, if he would under-
take it. He had never been present at any of our meet-
ings, and I did not know how, as a manufacturer, he was
incUned to act, and I believed that so far he was alto-
gether unacquainted with our proceedings. But I could
have no objection to him if he was willing to accept the
charge. The meeting asked me if I would endeavour to
ascertain his views upon the subject, and I consented
to do so. My calling upon him for this purpose was
the first intimation that Sir Robert Peel had of these
proceedings.

When I informed him of the support which I was
offered from the leading members in both Houses, he very
willingly accepted the office, and agreed to attend the
next meeting of the favouring members, that he might
learn their wishes as to'the best mode of proceeding. He
did so ; and at that meeting all the arrangements were
concluded for introducing the Bill into the House of
Commons with all the clauses as I had prepared them.

Had Sir Robert Peel been so inclined, he might have
speedily carried this Bill, as it was, through the House
of Commons, during the first session, in time for it to
have passed triumphantly through the Lords. But it
appeared afterwards that he was too much under the
influence of his brother manufacturers ; and he allowed
this Bill, of so much real importance to the country,
the master manufacturers, and the working classes, to
be dragged through the House of Commons for four
sessions before it was passed, and when passed it had
been so mutilated in all its valuable clauses, that it be-
came valueless for the objects I had intended.

At the commencement of these proceedings I was an
utter novice in the manner of conducting the business
of this country in Parham^ent. But my intimate acquaint-
ance with these proceedings for the four years during
which this Bill was under the consideration of both

ROBERT OWEN i6i

Houses, opened my eyes to the conduct of public men,
and to the ignorant vulgar self-interest, regardless of
means to accomplish their object, of trading and mer-
cantile men, even of high standing in the commercial
world. No means were left untried by these men to
defeat the object of the Bill, in the first session of its
introduction, and through four years in which, under one
futile pretence and another, it was kept in the House of
Commons.

Children at this time were admitted into the cotton,
wool, flajc, and silk mills, at six, and sometimes even at
five years of age. The time of working, winter and
summer, was unlimited by law, but usually it was four-
teen hours per day, — in some fifteen, and even, by the
most inhuman and avaricious, sixteeen hours, — and in
many cases the mills were artificially heated to a high
state most unfavourable to health.

The first plea of the objectors to my Bill was, that
masters ought not to be interfered with by the
legislature in any way in the management of their
business.

After long useless discussions, kept up to prolong time,
this was at length overruled.

The next attempt was to prove that it was not in-
jurious to employ these young children fourteen or fifteen
hours per day in overheated close rooms, filled often
with the fine flying fibre of the material used, particularly
in cotton and flax spinning mills. Sir Robert Peel most
unwisely consented to a committee being appointed to
investigate this question, and this committee was con-
tinued for two sessions of Parhament before these wise
and honest men, legislating for the nation, could decide
that such practices were detrimental to the health of
these infants.

The Bill as I prepared it was assented to by all the
leading members of both Houses, except the trading and
manufacturing interests, including cotton, wool, flax,
and silk mill-owners. Sir Robert Peel, yielding to the
clamour of the manufacturers, first gave up wool, flax,
and silk, and they were struck out at the commencement,
II

i62 THE LIFE OF

although at that time flax spinning was the most un-
heahhy of the four manufactures.

During the first two sessions occupied by the committee
to inquire whether the health of 5'oung children em-
ployed in overheated cotton mills for fourteen, fifteen,
and sometimes sixteen hours per day, was deteriorated, I
sat with the committee, the only uninfluenced advocate
of the cause of these children, whose minds and bodies
I knew from considerable experience were materially
and cruelly injured. But my evidence, being that of a
master manufacturer, and of one conducting in ci)nncxion
with these manufactures a population, young and old,
of two thousand five hundred, was deemed by the active
manufacturers opposed to the various clauses of my
proposed Bill, to be too strong to be overcome, especially
as my practice in the extensive mills which I conducted
was in accordance with the several clauses of the Bill, as
I proposed it first to the House through Sir Robert Peel.

The manufacturer^ who attended to oppose these
measures clause by clause therefore consulted among
themselves how they could diminish the influence of my
evidence with the Government and the members of both
Houses. They said — " Surely we can find out by going
" to Lanark something that he has done or is doing, that
" will diminish the great influence which he now pos-
" sesses with these members and with the Government " :
a happy suggestion as it was deemed by this strong party
of rich and influential men as master manufacturers.

Mr. Houldsworth, a great cotton-spinner from
Glasgow, and another, whose name I do not recollect,
were dispatched to my neighbourhood on a mission of
scandal - hunting. They soon learned that the parish
clergyman of Old Lanark was an enemy to my pro-
ceedings at New Lanark. He resided about a mile
distant from the former, and was well informed of
everything done at New Lanark since I undertook its
direction, now about sixteen years. This, they thought,
would be the very man for their purpose. The Rev.
Mr. Menzies had j)reached in and }iresided over the town
of Lanark for twenty years, and there was no perceptible

ROBERT OWEN 163

change for the better among his parishioners ; while
in sixteen years there had been at New Lanark a change
from a very low state of morals, to a general conduct
which was so superior as to attract the attention of
the most distinguished in rank, station, and character,
both at home and from all countries. This progress at
New Lanark had aroused the jealousy and enmity of Mr.
Menzies, whom, however, I had always treated as a
neighbouring clergyman, and had often invited to dine
at my house, and when some of the first noblemen and
gentlemen of the county were dining with me.

" This," thought Mr. Houldsworth and his master
manufacturing companion m official search of scandal,
" is the man for our purpose." And away they posted
to his house. They said — " The manufacturers of the
' kingdom have appointed a committee to watch the
' progress of a very injurious Bill which your neighbour,
' Mr. Owen, has had influence sufficient to introduce
' into Parliament, which Bill pretends to direct us how to
' conduct our business. We want therefore to diminish
' the influence of his evidence, for he is the only master
' manufacturer who advocates the bill. But his evi-
' dence has great weight with the members of Parliament
' and with many of the members of Government. Do
' you know anything of Mr. Owen's proceedings, by
' which, if made known to these parties, his influence
' would be diminished or destroyed ? " " Yes," replied
Mr. Menzies, " I do. On the first of January this year
'' (1816), on opening what he calls his ' New Institution
' ' for the Formation of Character,' he delivered an
' address to all his workpeople, and he invited the noble-
' men and gentry of the county and the clergymen of
' every denomination to be present, and this address
' was of the most treasonable character against Church
' and State." " That is the very thing for our purpose.
' Do you know anything else against him ? " " No.
' But he gives as much encouragement to the dissenting
' ministers of this place as to me ; and he invites them
' as much to his village, — which, considering I am the
' authorized minister of his parish, he ought not to do.

l64 THE LIFE OF

" And he encourages some dissenting meeting houses in
" New Lanark, and these being opened on the Sabbath,
" they keep many away who would otherwise attend the
" parish church and my ministry." " And you attended
" to hear this treasonable address from Mr. Owen on
" opening his Institution ? " " No. He invited me,
" but I was obliged to be absent on some parish business.
" But Mrs. Menzies and my family were all there. It
" was a great meeting, and many of our highest gentry
" were present." " How many persons do you suppose ? "
" The largest schoolroom, with its galleries, was filled,
" so that no room was left for more ; and they say there
" were twelve hundred present. And there was music,
" vocal and instrumental ; but no one saw the per-
" formers or knew where it came from." " Did Mrs.
" Menzies on her return home immediately relate to you
" what she had heard and seen ? " " Yes. And being
" so much accustomed to hear my sermons, and to give
" a true account of tliem to me afterwards, she is quite
" competent to carry away the substance of any public
" discourse which she may hear, and at this meeting she
" was assisted by my children who were mth her."

The manufacturers were delighted with this in-
telligence, and asked if he knew anything else against
me. He could not say he did, " Well — this will be
" sufficient, if you will return with us to London, and will
" state these facts to the Government. And we will
" P^-y you for your time and trouble, and will pay all
" your expenses." " I will go with you willingly, — for
" this is a dangerous man in our neighbourhood, where,
" by his pretended philanthropy, he has gi^eat influence,
" and especially by directing the extensive operations of
" so large an estabUshment, and employing more than
" two thousand people."

The party, thus agreed, hastily posted up to London,
and immediately asked the Secretary of State, Lord
Sidmouth, for an audience on most important business.
An interview was granted them. The manufacturers,
with Mr. Menzies, who were all primed by the committee
of manufacturers how to act and what to say, went in

ROBERT OWEN 165

full feather to the appointment made by the Secretary of
State, whom for nearly two years I had been in the habit
of frequently visiting in his office, and, at his request,
without asking for any formal appointment. When
these gentlemen had been severally formally introduced
to his lordship, he asked them the nature of their import-
ant business. " We have come to make a charge against
" Mr. Owen, Lord vSidmouth." " Ah ! what is it ? I
" know Mr. Owen very well." " This gentleman is Mr.
" Menzies, who is minister of the parish church in the
" county town of Lanark, in the near neighbourhood of
" New Lanark." I should have said previously that it
so happened that, as I was going to attend the committee
of the House of Commons on the Factory Bill, I met this
party on their way to Lord Sidmouth ; when Mr.
Houldsworth said on passing, for we were all on speaking
terms, and apparently friendly, — " I would not be in
" your shoes to-day for a trifle " — looking at the same
time significantly important. I knew not then what he
could mean, and passed on to the committee, which sat
day by day, taking the most extraordinary evidence in
favour of the health of cotton mills, and to prove that the
health of young children and youth was not injured by
working in them fourteen, fifteen, and sixteen hours
per day !

But to return to the party with Lord Sidmouth.
" Well, Mr. Menzies," said his lordship, " what is your
" charge against Mr. Owen ? " "I have to state that on
" the first of January last, at the opening of what he calls
" a ' New Institution for the Formation of Character,' to
" which all his people and the neighbouring gentry were
" invited, he delivered one of the most extraordinary,
" treasonable, and inflammatory discourses that has
" ever been heard in Scotland." " Indeed ! " said
Lord Sidmouth. " And you were present and listened
" attentively to the whole of what he said ? " " No, my
"lord, — I was not present; but my wife and family
" were, and several ministers living in the neighbourhood,
" and the gentry near." " And you know all the address
" contained ? " "I know from the report of my wife

i66 THE LIFE OF

" and others that it was most treasonable and in-
" flamniatory." " Is this all the charge you have to
" make against Mr. Owen ? " " Yes, my lord." Lord
Sidmouth then asked the deputation (and he appeared
fully conscious of the animus of this proceeding) whether
they had any further accusation to make. " No, my
" lord, we have no other charge to make." " Then I
" dismiss your complaint as most frivolous and uncalled
" for. The Government has been six months in pos-
" session of a copy of that discourse, which it would do
" any of you credit to have delivered, if you had the
" power to conceive it." And he bowed them out.

They returned, first to their committee, and gave an
accurate account of their reception and the result. The
whole of which, and the previous proceedings at Lanark
with Mr. Menzies, were the same day graphically com-
municated to me by one of their own committee, who
had become so disgusted with these and other of their
doings, that he \vould no longer act with them. The
next day I saw Mr. Houldsworth, who looked most de-
jected, and had not a word to say for himself.

I sat with this Factory Committee of the House of
Commons every day for two sessions, and was on one
occasion examined by it as a witness in favour of the
Bill in its original state, limiting the time of working the
mills to ten hours per day, — the age of admission for
children to work in them for that time, to twelve, — for
the boys and girls to be taught to read and write previously
to their admission, — and the girls in addition to be taught
to sew and cook, and to do the general domestic duties oi
a poor man's house, — -and the factory to be kept clean
and frequently whitewashed.

My evidence, as an extensive mill owner, who had in
his own practice adopted these regulations in his estab-
lishment, which at this time employed upwards of two
thousand, the great majority children and young persons,
had an influence not to be overcome by any ordinary or
fair means. Therefore the manufacturing members of
the House, who were in strength upon this committee,
resorted to the most unfair means in their examination,

ROBERT OWEN 167

especially Sir George Philips, of the cotton-spinning
firm of Philips and Lee, of Salford, who, taking ad-
vantage of tlie position ho held, took upon himself I0
question me at great length on my religious lielief, and
on various other matters, so unjustifiable and irrelevant
to the business before the committee, that at the end of
this long examination of me by this rival cotton-spinner,
or (as many of his class were now called, from their great
wealth and their tyranny over their workpeople) cotton
lord, he was called to order by Henry, afterwards Lord
Brougham, who also moved that the whole examination
of Sir George Phihps, so totally unconnected with the
business of the committee, should be expunged, and it
was so decided without one dissentient.

I was so disgusted at the delays created by these
interested members, and at the concessions made to them
by Sir Robert Peel during the progress of the Bill through
the Houseof Commons, that after attending the committee
every day of its sitting during two long sessions, I took
less interest in a measure now so mutilated, and so unlike
the Bill which had been prepared by me ; and I seldom
attended the committee, or took any active part in its
further progress. My place during the third and fourth
year of its being kept before the committees of both
'Houses of Parliament was occupied chiefly by Mr.
Nathaniel Gould, of Manchester, and Mr. Richard
Oastler, of Yorkshire, known as the " king " of the
Yorkshire operatives. And both made much popular
character by their well-intended efforts.

It may be remarked here, that this Bill has since been
almost continually before Parliament for improvement
after improvement, and yet it has not been suffered by the
master cotton-spinners to attain the full benefits contained
in the Bill when first introduced, at my instance, by
Sir Robert Peel, although the clauses as they then stood
would have been, if carried, as beneficial for the masters
as for the workpeople, and greatly more^advantageous to
the general interests of the country. \But in this and
in all other cases between the tyranny of the masters and
the sufferings of their white slaves, the error is in reality

i68 THE LIFE OF

N in the system of society, which creates the necessity" for
tyrants and slaves, neither of which could exist in a true
and rational state of societyi

While these proceedings were in progress, what was
called the revulsion from war to peace had created
universal distress among the producers in the British
Islands. Barns and farmyards were full, and warehouses
were weighed down with all manner of productions, and
prices fell much below the cost at which the articles could
be produced. Farm servants were dismissed, and no
employment could be found for them, the manufacturers
being in the same situation as the farmers, and obhged to
discharge their hands by hundreds, and in many cases
to stop their works altogether. The distress among all
workpeople became so great, that the upper and wealthy
classes became alarmed, foreseeing that the support of
the hundreds of thousands unemployed, if this state of
things continued, must ultimately fall upon them.
This was in 1816, t^e first year after the conclusion of
peace.

A great meeting was called by the upper classes to
consider the cause of and remedy for this distress,which
puzzled all our political economists, and confounded our
most experienced statesmen. The meeting was held
in the City of London Tavern, presided over by the Duke
of York, and attended by all the great people and pro-
minent men of the day. At this time I was on friendly
terms with several of the English bench of bishops,
particularly the Archbishop of Canterbury (Sutton), the
learned Bishop of St. Davids (Burgess), the benevolent
and liberal Bishop of Durham (Barrington), and the good
honest Bishop of Norwich (Bathurst). Upon the morn-
ing of this great meeting, at which all the high official
personages were expected to attend, and to subscribe
for the immediate support of the suffering workpeople,
I was engaged to breakfast with the Bishop of Norwich.
After breakfast the Bishop said to me — " Mr. Owen, I
" shall be expected to be present at this meeting and to
" subscribe my mite, and as I cannot to-day con-
" veniently attend, will you have the kindness to offer

ROBERT OWEN i6q

" an apology to the meeting for my absence, and to
" subscribe ten pounds for me ? " — giving me that sum.
I did what he requested, and I perceived that many were
surprised that the Bishop had given his commission to
rne in preference to any other.

1 All at the meeting appeared to be at a loss to account
for such severe distress at the termination of a war so
successful and the commencement of a peace so advan-
tageous, as it was thought, to this country. But all
that was done was to appoint a committee of the leading
statesmen and political economists and practical men of
business to investigate this difficult subject. Such com-
mittee was then named, and the Archbishop of Canter-
bury was appointed its chairman, and a large subscription
to give immediate relief was entered into. '

Among the committee were the leading political
economists and Malthusians, who at this period were
making great pretensions to superior knowledge, and
whose opinions governed British home politics for many
years after, and have continued to do so almost to the
present time.

Not long ago their real leader, and that of the Whig
party, Francis Place, a most energetic and well-inten-
tioned man, about a year before his death, confessed
to me that he was mistaken in all his expectations, and
was no longer able to see his way in national affairs.
He had always agreed with me on the necessity of edu-
cating the people ; but was opposed to me on the neces-
sity of giving national employment to the unemployed
who desired to work. He was a conscientious, firm, hard
Whig and modern political economist, mistaken in all
hi^ political views, except upon education, and of that
he had only Whig knowledge. His opinion was, that the
poor should work out their own way as he had done, —
and he had been successful.

Upon this committee my name appeared — by whom
proposed and seconded I never knew ; and I was much
surprised to find it there. My friend Mr. Mortlock's
name was also upon the committee, — which was ap-
pointed to meet the next day.

170

THE LIFE OF

Mr. Mortlock was a true liberal philanthropist, most
active in the cause of the poor and working classes, and
well known among the leading men of the day. We
agreed that I should breakfast with him, and that we
should go together to the first meeting of this intendcd-
to-be-important committee.

At breakfast Mr. Mortlock (who was the head of the
firm at 250 Oxford Street, London, the great china ware-
house) inquired of me whether I knew the cause of this
new and most extraordinary general distress among the
producers of wealth, at the commencement of a peace so
satisfactory and honourable to the nation. I explained
to him my views on the subject, but said, " No doubt the
" leading men, especially some of the prominent political
" economists, who I see are upon the committee, will give
" a much fuller and better explanation of this subject, as
" they are in possession of all the knowledge of the
" Government derived from every national source, and
" I expect we shall obtain much valuable new information
" from a committee appointed as this has been."

We attended the meeting, and sat together, not far
from the chairman, who, as I have said, was the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury (Sutton).

I had anticipated a great addition to my knowledge
from attending this committee of the supposed most ex-
perienced public men of the day that could be nominated
to assist the Archbishop. I listened with the most
fixed attention to sjieech after speech, from those who
took upon themselves the task of enlightening the com-
mittee upon this extraordinary new state of the country
at the commencement of so gratifying a peace. I was
confounded, amazed, and greatly disappointed with tbe
verbiage uttered first by one leading public man and then
by another and another, until the most prominent and
forward had expressed all they had to say. But the
meeting was not satisfied with any of these attempts to
explain the cause of this unusual general distress, and
my friend Mr. Mortlock was quite uneasy in his seat,
while attending to speech after speech, amounting as he
said to nothing relevant to the subject before them, and

ROBERT OWEN 171

he repeatedly urged me to tell the meeting what I had
explained to him at our breakfast.

Uneducated as I was, and then inexperienced in public
speaking, I had the greatest dislike and even horror of
standing up and formally attempting to address such a
meeting. But my friend had become so urgent with
me that I should speak, that at length he attracted the
notice of the chairman, who, hearing what he was saying
to me, said, — " Mr. Owen, — we know you have had great
" experience among workpeople, and have given, as evi-
" denced by your lately published essays, which I have
" read and studied, much thought to these matters.
" I therefore request you will favour the meeting with
" your sentiments upon this subject, which appears to
" be so much a mystery to every one." I could not now
escape rising. But explanations at a breakfast table,
and formally addressing such a meeting, were to me at
that period two very different things. I had to force
myself to overcome my diffidence and mistrust of my own
powers.

I said the cause of this apparently unaccountable
distress seemed to me to be the new extraordinary
changes which had occurred during so long a war, when
men and materials had been for a quarter of a century
in such urgent demand, to support the waste of our
armies and navies upon so extensive a scale for so long a
period. All things had attained to war prices, and these
had been so long maintained, that they had appeared to
the present generation the natural state of business and
public affairs. The want of hands and materials, with
this lavish expenditure, created a demand for and gave
great encouragement to new mechanical inventions and
chemical discoveries, to supersede manual labour in
supplying the materials required for warlike purposes,
and these, direct and indirect, were innumerable. The
war was a great and most extravagant customer to farmers,
manufacturers, and other producers of wealth, and many
during this period became very wealthy. The ex-
penditure of the last year of the war for this country
alone was one hundred and thirty millions sterling, or an

172 THE LIFE OF

excess of eighty millions of pounds sterling over the peace
expenditure . And on the day on which peace was signed,
this great customer of the producers died, and prices fell
as the demand diminished, until the prime cost of the
articles required for war could not be obtained. The
bams and farmyards were full, warehouses loaded, and
such was our artificial state of society, that this very
superabundance of wealth was the sole cause of the exist-
ing distress. Burn the stock in the farmyards and ware-
houses, and prosperity would immediately recommence
in the same manner as if the war had continued. This
want of demand at remunerating prices compelled the
master producers to consider what they could do to
diminish the amount of their productions and the cost
of producing, until these surplus stocks could be taken
out of the market . To effect these results, every economy
in producing was resorted to, and men being more ex-
pensive machines for producing than mechanical and
chemical inventions and discoveries, so extensively
brought into action during the war, the men were
discharged, and the machines were made to supersede
them, — while the numbers xmemployed were increased
by the discharge of men from the army and navy.
Hence the great distress for want of work among all
classes whose labour was so much in demand while the
war continued. This increase of mechanical and
chemical power was continually diminishing the demand
for and value of manual labour, and would continue to
do so, and would effect great changes throughout society.
For the new power created by these new inventions and
discoveries was already enormous, and was superseding
rnanual power.

Here I was asked by Mr. Colquhoun — the celebrated
city magistrate and political economist, who had lately
published his Resources of the British Empire — how much
I thought this new mechanical and chemical power
now superseded manual labour. ^ I replied that I had
not the data from which I could make an exact state-
ment of the amount to the committee ; but from observ-
ing these new powers in action over the kingdom, I knew

1/^
ROBERT OWEN 173

the amount must be very considerable. Mr. Colquhoun
said — " But give the committee some idea of what you
" suppose it to be." " I do not like to express myself
" on so important a subject without some fixed data ,
" beyond general observations." Several voices from
various members of the committee exclaimed — " Do, Mr.
" Owen, give us some notion of your impressions on this
" subject." I said — " Imperfectly informed as I am, I
" am most unwilling, on a subject so new and yet so
" important to society, to state a crude opinion merely
" from general observation." The committee now
appeared to be much agitated and excited, and became
most urgent that I should name some amount as the
extent to which this new power superseded manual
labour.

The population of the British Isles was at this period
(1816) in round numbers about seventeen millions.
Pohtical economists estimated one-fifth of the population
to be producers. But as women and young children
had latterly been made to attend machinery, it would be
more safe to say one-fourth were producers — or that the
wealth of Great Britain and Ireland was annually pro-
duced by the manual labour oifour millions and a quarter,
assisted by rnechanical and chemical power. Knowing
this, I said— t" It now must exceed the whole amount of
" manual producing power." " What ! Mr. Owen ! "
exclaimed Mr. Colquhoun and many others — "exceed
" the labour of more than five millions ! Five millions !
" it is utterly impossible." I assured the committee
that I knew it must very far exceed five millions, and
that this was the cause why manual labour was so
little in demand.' I said that at this time I was directing
in my establishment at New Lanark in Scotland,
mechanical powers and operations superintended by j!
about two thousand young persons and adults, which \\
operations now completed as much work as sixty years
before would have required the entire working population
of all Scotland. This statement more and more sur-
prised the leading members of the committee. The
Archbishop said — " The statements you have made are

174 THE LIFE OF

" very interesting and important. But what is the
" remedy for the existing distress ? " I said — " To find
" the remedy for this new artificial state of society, is
" not an easy task. But a remedy can be found for
" every artificial evil, and I think I perceive the remedy
" for this evil." " Can you now state this remedy ? "
" No — I am not prepared, — not expecting to be thus
" called upon. I came only to hear the remedies of
" those much more experienced in public affairs than
" myself." The Archbishop said — " Would you object
" to make a report on this subject to an adjourned
" meeting of this committee ? " "If your Grace and
" the committee desire it, I will do the best I can to
" prepare such report."

The Archbishop asked the committee if it was their
wish that I should prepare a report, giving my views of
the remedy. They unanimously expressed a desire that
I should do so. I consented, and the meeting was im-
mediately afterwards adjourned.

I was at this time in regular daily attendance upon the
committee of the House of Commons on Sir Robert
Peel's Factory Bill, as it was now called ; and the
master manufacturers were continually in search of
evidence to support their cause against their work-
people, and among other of their doings, they had been
at considerable expense to collect the number of spindles
at work in all the cotton mills over the kingdom. This
to me valuable document they presented to the Factory
Committee of the House of Commons the day after the
meeting of the committee which I had attended to con-
sider the cause of and remedy for the new and extra-
ordinary distress among the farm labourers and manu-
facturing operatives. This document was brought to
the committee by the masters, to show the magnitude
and importance of their cotton-spinning operations as a
national branch of business, and that therefore the legis-
lature should not in any way interfere to interrupt its
progress and prosperity. It would have been a just pro-
ceeding on their part to have shown also the enormous
profits that had been made by them in this branch during

ROBERT OWEN 175

the previous years, and how well they could afford to
give the relief asked for by the Bill, as first presented
from me to Sir Robert Peel to be introduced into the
House. This document, however, served an important
purpose, which the master cotton-spinners never an-
ticipated. It enabled me to estimate with considerable
accuracy the amount of manual labour which was super-
seded by the machinery employed in cotton-spinning
alone. I found this amount at that time to exceed and
supersede the manual labour of a population of eighty
millions, and it will be seen by official documents how
much this manufacture has increased since 1816,/

As soon as I had obtained this document, and had
made my calculations, I took them to Mr. Colquhoun,
the most advanced political economist in a knowledge of
facts of any British subject. While he was preparing his
elaborate work On the Resources of the British Empire,
to enable him to do it justice, all the national documents
and records bearing upon the subject had been sub-
mitted to his inspection. When I explained to him these
calculations, which made certain the results which I
stated, I have seldom seen any one more surprised.
After a little reflection he said — " A mystery to me while
" I wrote my late work is now explained. During the
" late expensive, and I may say most lavish and extrava-
" gant war expenditure, I found the real wealth of the
" nation, although also borrowing large sums, to be
" year by year considerably on the increase, and I could
" not account for or divine the cause of such extraordinary
" and apparently contradictory results. I would have
" given much for this information when I was writing
" my book ; for I could then have made the work of
" much more interest and value to the public and to the
" Government. But," he continued, " if one branch of
" one manufacture supersedes the manual labour of a
" population of eighty millions — what must be the
" amount superseded by all the new mechanical and
" chemical powers which have been introduced into the
" operations of industry in the British Islands since the
" inventions of Arkwright and Watt ? Can you form

176 THE LIFE OF

" any estimate of this amount ? " I replied — " I have
" no correct data to guide me, except the document I
" have now brought, and whiBh the master manufacturers
" have made out. From this document, however, I can
" plainly perceive that, with the remaining branches in
" the wool, flax, and silk manufactures, the new powers
" will much exceed the manual labour of two hundred
" millions of population. But including all other branches
" of business over the kingdom, it must be at present
beyond all means to estimate with any pretensions to
accuracy. And it must be far beyond any conceptions
of our statesmen or of any class." " Yes," he said, —
it would be unwise to make any other statement yet,
than that of the two hundred millions, as within your
data of calculation. But the information which you
have now given to me I esteem of important value —
indeed I know not how it can be overrated by public

<(

(<

men."

It being mentioned in public by Mr. Colquhoun that
it was ascertained from documents which were trust-
worthy, that the new mechanical and chemical powers
within this kingdom superseded the manual labour of a
population of upwards of two hundred millions, that
amount became regularly stated afterwards in the writing
and public speeches of all the modern political economists
— none of them knowing whence their new information
proceeded.

I now turned my attention to consider the report which
I had engaged to make to the Archbishop's Committee
to inquire into the cause of and remedy for the existing
distress among all classes of workpeople, exclusive of
domestic servants. While I was thus occupied, the
Government, but especially the Whig interest and the
political economists, who were now becoming one party,
became alarmed by the number of workpeople now out
of employment and claiming their natural and legal
right for support from the nation. I It was at this time,
when the suffermgs of the unemployed were extreme,
that the pohtical economists conspired against the just,
natural, and legal rights of those who could not find em-

ROBERT OWEN 177

ployment, and who had no other means of Hving except
from national support, stealing, anl prostitution. They
did not take into account that the wealth of the nation
had increased in a much greater ratio than thepoor's-rate.
The political economists, by reasoning from a false prin-
ciple, knowing little of human nature, and less of the
powers of society when rightly directed, had hardened
their hearts against the natural feehngs of humanity,
and were determined, aided by their disciples the Whigs,
to starve out the poor from the land. And their measures
did starve millions in Great Britain and Ireland, without
attaining economy for the nation or diminishing the
number of the poor. The plans which they induced the
nation to adopt, starved the weakest and best of the poor,
and drove others to theft, nmrder, and the poor females
to prostitution. And these measures were adopted while
there was abundance of uncultivated land, and an enor-
mous accumulation of wealth squandered in useless wars
which a little common sense could easily have avoided,
and in as ignorant foreign speculations in mines, loans,
and all manner of wild schemes, which promised, however
fallaciously, a high interest for capital.

The rapid accumulation of wealth, from the rapid in-
crease of mechanical and chemical power, created
capitalists who were among the most ignorant and
injurious of the population. The wealth created by the
industry of the people, now made abject slaves to these
new artificial powers, accumulated in the hands of what
are called the monied class, who created none of it, and
who misused all they had acquired. Their proceedings
proved by their results how ignorant and totally unequal
to their position these men were. Many of them singly
(had they possessed a knowledge of their own nature and
of the powers of that nature when united and combined
into a rational system of society, based on common sense,
derived from common everyday facts) could, by the
proper use of their funds, have set an example, without
diminishing those funds, which, from its success and
superior good results, all others must have followed.

At this period I was unconscious of the gross ignorance
12

178 THE LIFE OF

which a false fundamental principle, or rather notion of
a crude undeveloped imagination, had inflicted on the
entire population of the world, thus making their reason-
ing faculties, until the sciences were far in advance of
imaginary, baseless notions, far worse than useless
For this misdirection of the rational faculties of hu-
manity, has led all nations and people through all manner
of insane absurdities. And to a very great extent these
remain in full activity at this day.

In considering the report which I had been so un-
expectedly called upon to make to the committee for
taking into their consideration the cause of and remedy
for the great existing aistress among the poor and work-
ing classes in the British Islands, I reasoned according to
the most obvious principles of plain common sense.

The war had continued so long (nearly a quarter of a
century) that the British population had adopted a war
state of sociejty, and with Bank of England notes being
made a legal tender, this state of warfare might have con-
tinued without intermission, and the country would have
proceeded year by year, as it had done during the years
of the war, to increase rapidly in wealth. The great war
consumer of wealth having suddenly ceased, the demand
for the consumption of war on so magnificent a scale at
home and abroad at once terminated, and this produced
what was then called the revulsion from war to peace.
This new state of national affairs (for it was new in the
history of nations) alarmed and confounded the states-
men of that period, and they looked around for help
from some quarter.

There were at this time a few naturally strong-minded
active men, including Malthus, Mill, Ricardo, Colonel
Torrens, Hume, and Place. The last possessing more
energy and practical knowledge, having risen from the
working class, was the soul of the party. They with
some others formed the new school of modern political
economists, as they were then called. These were all
well-intentioned, clever, acute men, close reasoners and
great talkers upon a false principle — and this reminds
me to add to their number Dr. Bowring and Jeremy

ROBERT OWEN 179

Bentham, who were prominent members of this new
school.

I With all these I was intimate and upon friendly
terms, Jeremy Bentham being one of my New Lanark
partners, — and this his friend and agent Dr. Bowring
said was his only successful pecuniary speculation.
With all these really clever, and as I have said un-
doubtedly well-intentioned men, I had day by day much
discussion, but carried on by each of them in the most
friendly manner, and most frequently when breakfasting
with them, and before their business of the day com-
menced.

I was most desirous to convince them that national '\
education and employment could alone create a perman- /
eut rational, intelligent, wealthy, and superior popu- /
lation, and that these results could be attained only by a \
scientific arrangement of the people united in properly )
constructed villages of unity and co-operation as I then y
called them. While they, on the contrary, strongly r-v
desired to convert me to their views of instructing the Nrn
people without finding them national united employ-^ \S
ment, and of a thorough system of individual com-

, petition. The one may be called the system of universal

' attraction, — the other, that of universal repulsion.

I I was now too much a man of business, and too ex-

tperienced in knowledge of human nature, not to per-
ceive strongly the utter impossibihty of succeeding in
I permanently improving the condition of any population
I by any half measures. No people or population can
p be made good, intelhgent, and happy, except by a
I rational and natural education and useful employment
I or occupation, giving equal exercise to body and mind
I under healthy conditions.

I iThese pushing, busy, and ever-active pohtical econo-
I mists advocated the principle of individualism, with

I education according to the then notions of national
p education for the poor, and with the full extent of

II individual responsibility for their conduct through life.
IjAnd what were then called the liberal and advanced
I minds of the public were decidedly in their favour, aided

i8o THE LIFE OF

also by the prejudices of all past ages. And they
succeeded in converting the Government and the public
to their notions and practices.

1 knew the utter weakness and fallacy of the notions
and practices which they were inducing all parties to
adopt. I And were it not that these changes would of
necessity lead the pubhc onward to higher and better
principles and practices, I should have very much pre-
ferred the old Conservative system of governing with
more ignorance, but with greatly more humanity to
the poor, their dependents, and the working classes, —
all of whom were better provided for and less worked, in
more healthy situationsji The old aristocracy of birth,
as I recollect them in my early days, were in many respects
superior to the money-making and money-seeking aris-
tocracy of modern times.

And now the Government, inoculated with all the
inexperienced notions of the modern political economists,
commenced the most stringent measures in making
laws against the natural rights of the poor and working
classes, and in favour of the wealthy and powerful.
Laws which were sure to increase poverty, crime, dis-
content, and misery, and ultimately to render a change
in practice as well as in principle unavoidable. That
change is now before us, and will be the revolution of
revolutions, and will secure the permanent well-doing
and happiness of the human race.

By the experience which I had now had (first for ten
years in Manchester, with a population of five hundred,
and now for upwards of sixteen years at New Lanark in
Scotland, with a population of two thousand five hundred
solely under my direction and advice, socially as well as
in their employments), I had ascertained to a great
extent practically how populations should be trained,
educated, and occupied, to make them good, intelligent,
and happy. I had discovered that by acting on an obvious
principle respecting human nature, it was practicable,
with the certainty of a law of nature, ultimately to make
the human race good, wise, and happy. And having this
knowledge deeply impressed on my mind, I was induced,

ROBERT OWEN i8i

against the prejudices and educated errors of the popu-
lation of the world, to determine not to cease but with
life any efforts which I could make with my means, to
effect this great change in the principle and practice of
the human race.

By my own experience and reflection I had ascertained
that human nature is radically good, and is capable of
being trained, educated, and placed from birth in such
manner, that all ultimately (that is, as soon as the gross
errors and corruptions of the present false and wicked
system are overcome and destroyed) must become
united, good, wise, wealthy, and happy. And I felt
that to attain this glorious result, the sacrifice of the
character, fortune, and life of an individual was not
deserving a moment's consideration. And my decision
was made to overcome all opposition and to succeed, i
or to die in the attempt.

By my experiment at New Lanark, continually opened
to the public, — by the publication of my four Essays on
the formation of character and a new view of society,
which had been widely circulated among all classes at
home and had been sent by our Government to all foreign
Governments, to the most learned universities at home
and abroad, and had been presented by our Government
to the bench of bishops, — by the advocacy of the cause
of the workpeople, — and by the introduction of my Bill
into the House of Commons for their relief, — with my
announcement, previously unthought of, declaring the
large amount of new artificial power to supersede
manual power, — my name had become well known, and
my influence at this period with the Government, Parlia-
ment, and people was considerable and on the increase.

But in proportion as my name and proceedings became
public, the opposition from the most bigoted and pro-
fessedly rehgious of all sects began to show itself. And
from that period it was active and was daily on the in-
crease. Before the day which was named for the next
I meeting of the Archbishop's committee, I had the report
prepared for it. But previous to this meeting, the
Government, with the pohtical economists to support

i82 THE LIFE OF

them, had decided upon carrying into practice their
stringent laws against the poor and working classes, and
for this purpose a committee of the House of Commons,
called " Sturges Bourne's Committee on the Poor Laws,"
was appointed, composed of the leading members of
both parties. It was deemed by far the most important
committee of the session, and consisted of forty members,
and had commenced its sittings when I presented my
report to the Archbishop's committee.

When in my place I had presented the report and had
explained the outline of the remedy which I proposed,
the Archbishop and the committee appeared to be taken
by surprise, and appeared at a loss what to say or do.
After some private communication between the leading
Government party in the committee and the Archbishop,
the latter addressed me, and said — " Mr. Owen, — this
" committee is not prepared to take into its consideration
" a report so ^extensive in its recommendations, so new
" in principle and practice, and involving great national

changes. It is better adapted for the consideration

of Mr. Sturges Bourne's Poor Law Committee of the
"House of Commons, and which is now sitting. We
" therefore recommend you to present it to that com-
" mittee." I said — " If that is the wish of your Grace
" and of this committee, I will do so."

Mr. Brougham, afterwards Lord Chancellor Brougham,
was a member of this Poor Law Committee, and through
him I gave notice to the committee that I had such a
report to present to it, and that I was willing to be
examined as a witness upon their Bill. A day was
appointed for my examination.

At this period I was little aware of the deep-laid con-
spiracy which had been entered into by the upper classes
against the natural and to this period legal rights of the
poor and working classes. It was now beginning to be
developed through this committee.
•^ I attended the committee on the day appointed in
the morning, as I was to be the first examined. When I
entered the committee room I found the forty members
present, and most formally arranged. I had the report

i<

ROBERT OWEN 183

and plans for explanation with me. I placed and ar-
ranged them in order, and then waited the commencement
of my examination. The members more immediately
connected with and under the influence of the Govern-
ment, had been made acquainted by the Archbishop's
committee with the outline of the report which I now
intended to present and more fully to explain by my
exammation. I now perceived that the leading members
were in private and apparently very interesting con-
versation in an undertone, which prevented my hearing
what was said by any speaker. After I had thus waited
for some time, they appeared to come to some conclusion.
I was personally known to all the members, and was upon
friendly terms with some of them ; but I was prepared
for a severe and most scrutinizing examination, as the
Conservative members knew that my views respecting
the poor and working classes differed materially from
theirs.

After I had thus waited for some time with all my
documents and plans opened out on the table, making, I
have no doubt a display formidable to the leading
members of the committee, the chairman, Mr. Sturges
Bourne, formally addressed me, and said — " Will you,
" Mr. Owen, have the kindness to withdraw for a short
" period into the next room ? The members of the
" committee desire to have some private discussion, —
" after which we will send for you to be examined."

I withdrew into the adjoining apartment, where, being
well supplied with paper, pens, and ink, I immediately
occupied myself with writing, as it was my custom never
to be unoccupied. The committee met early, and no
other witness was summoned on that day. I was thus
busily engaged the whole day, expecting every moment
to be sent for, until the bell rang to call the members to
the House, and then Mr. (now Lord) Brougham came to
me and said, — " Owen, we have been discussing all day
" whether you should be examined or not, and we have
" come to no decision yet. The debate is adjourned until
" to-morrow morning at ten, when you must again attend
" the call of the committee."

^i84 THE LIFE OF

I thought this a strange proceeding, and could not then
divine the cause.

In the morning I attended in the waiting room at ten
o'clock, and occupied myself as on the previous day, —
no other witness having been called. The whole day
passed as before. The discussion continued with closed
doors until the bell rang for the attendance of the
committee in the House, — when Mr. Brougham, who was
known then to be friendly to me, as he has been through
our lives, came and said — " Well, Owen, this is an
' extraordinary business. The committee has been in
' close discussion for these two whole days, and only
' just now has come to a decision, when, by a small
' majority, it has been decided that you shall not be

* examined by the committee." I said — " It is indeed
' strange and most extraordinary, as the members know
' how much I have studied these subjects, and how much
' extensive experience I have had with the working
' classes. But it is of little consequence. I will find
■' means to^enable the public to learn my views on this

* subject."

In a day or two I published in the daily newspapers
an examination of myself, such as I imagined the best-
informed of the committee would have made, and thus
were the views of those members of the committee who
were opposed to my being examined completely frustrated.
1 should have liked very much to hear what was con-
tended for by both parties during those two days'
discussions. Those debates would now be a valuable
document to prove the conspiracy of the upper against
the natural and legal rights of the lower classes.

My name was now still more known to the public as a
friend to the poor and working classes, and as a general
reformer of existing evils. I considered what step I
should next take to promote these views, yet so new to
many. I decided to call a public meeting in the City of
London Tavern, " to consider a plan to relieve the
" country from its present distress, to re-moralize the
" lower orders, reduce the poor's rate, and gradually
" abolish pauperism with all its degrading consequences."

ROBERT OWEN 185

But previous to these meetings several of the Foreign
Ambassadors in London, to whom my four Essays on
the New View of Society had been presented, requested
to be introduced and known to me, and among these
especially was Baron Jacobi, the Prussian Ambassador,
who had communicated my Essays to the then Sovereign
of Prussia, who so much approved of them as to write an
autograph letter to me, expressing his high approbation
of my sentiments on national education and on govern-
ment, and stating that he had in consequence given
instruction to his minister of the interior, to adopt my
views on national education to • the extent that the
political condition and locality of Prussia would admit.
And the next year (1817) this measure was commenced,
and it has been carried out to the present time. Baron
Jacobi warmly advocated my views, and being known
to be on friendly terms with me, was requested by Prince
Esterhazy, the then Austrian Ambassador in London, to
introduce him to me, that he might hear the explanation
of my " new views " from myself. They came to me
together, and the Baron introduced the Prince to me ;
but as I did not hear very well, I did not catch the title
or name, and I received the Prince as one of the ordinary
members of the Foreign Aristocracy, and had a long,
free, and interesting conversation with him.

I had then in my apartment the model of the first or
preliminary community for the poor. He inspected this
very closely, and I gave him a full explanation of its
intended working in practice. He took a deep interest
in the subject, was very frank and familiar, and at
parting expressed himself in very friendly terms. I
•remained ignorant of the title and character of my very
inquisitive and intelligent visitor, until I next met Baron
Jacobi, who explained who and what he was.

I had conversed with him as man to man. Not
knowing that he had any title, I gave him none, and when
he asked me what character I intended to form by my
New View I replied — " Full-formed men and women
" physically and mentally, who would always think and
" act consistently and rationall)^" This reply seemed

iS6 THE LIFE OF

to make a strong impression upon him, and the Baron
informed me that he had expressed himself well pleased
and much interested in this oar first interview. The
Prince was ever afterwards my friend, and upon sub-
sequent occasions was most useful to me.

I had been and was making great and substantial
progress with my New Lanark expt riment, and it was
now becoming widely known, and attracted the attention
of those in advanced stations at home and abroad. I
had now completed, and furnished according to my new
mode of instruction by sensible signs and familiar con-
versation, the first institution for the formation of the
infant and child character — the infants being received
into it at one year old, or as soon as they could walk.

The parents at first could not understand what I was
going to do with their little children at two years of age,
but seeing the results produced they became eager to
send their infants at one year old, and inquired if I could
not take them yet younger.

I charged the parents, that it might not be considered a
pauper school, threepence per month, or three shillings a
year, for each child, and of course they paid this most
willingly. The expense of this establishment of three
gradations of schools was about two pounds per year for
each child. But the difference between the three shillings
and two pounds was amply made up by the improved
character of the whole population, upon whom the school
had a powerful influence for good.

The children were trained and educated without
punishment or any fear of it, and were while in school by
far the happiest human beings I have ever seen.

The infants and young children, besides being in-
structed by sensible signs, — the things themselves, or
models or paintings, — and by familiar conversation,
were from two years and upwards daily taught dancing
and singing, and the parents were encouraged to come
and see their children at any of their lessons or physical
exercises.

But in addition there were day schools for all under
twelve years old, after which age they might, if their

ROBERT OWEN 187

parents wished, enter the works, either as mechanics,
manufacturers, or in any branch — for we had iron- and
brass-founders.forgers, turners in wood and iron, machine
makers, and builders in all branches, having continually
buildings to repair and erect and machinery on a large
scale to repair and renew. The annual repairs alone of
the establishment cost at this period upwards of eight
thousand pounds.

I also organized arrangements to supply all the wants
of the population, buying every thing for moneyonalarge
scale in the first markets, and supplying them at first cost
and charges. They had previously been necessitated to
buy inferior articles, highly adulterated,'^'at enormous
prices, making their purchases at small grocery and
grog shops, chiefly on credit ; and their butcher's meat
was generally little better than skin and bone. By the
time the arrangements to provide for the whole circle
of their wants in food, clothing, etc., etc., were com-
pleted,some of thelarger families wereearning two pounds
per week, and the heads of these families told me that
my new arrangements to supply their wants saved them
in price ten shillings weekly, besides the great difference
between deteriorated and the most inferior qualities
I and the best unadulterated articles. The grocery and
grog shops speedily disappeared, and the population soon
relieved themselves from the debts previously contracted
to them.

All the houses in the village, with one hundred and
fifty acres of land around it, formed parts of the estab-
lishment, all united, and working together as one
machine, proceeding day by day with the regularity of
clockwork. The order of the whole was such, that Mr.
Henry Hase, the well-known cashier for so many years
of the Bank of England, and who reorganized the ar-
rangements of the bank, when on his first visit to me,
after he had examined the whole with great minuteness
and continually increasing interest as he advanced in his
task, said — " Mr. Owen, this must be the work of some
" generations. How long has it been in progress to
" attain this high perfection of systematic order ? " I

i88 THE LIFE OF

informed him it had been entirely conceived by me and
constructed under my immediate direction in sixteen
years, no one knowing the results which I hai in view
while proceeding with the several parts to dovetail one
with the other to form an entire whole. He was so much
gratified by the extended systematic order that as long
as he lived he came every year with Mrs. Hase to visit
me at Braxfield, my place of residence, which was at a
convenient distance from the estabhshment, so as not
to be annoyed by it, while the house was situated in the
midst of beautiful scenery.

I have already mentioned the measures which I adopted
for the detection and prevention of theft, and for
registering the conduct of the workpeople, and the bene-
ficial effects which resulted. The poor workpeople were
exposed to the strongest temptations, and their thefts
were encouraged by the cotton weavers who were numer-
ous in the neighbourhood of the establishment. The
detection of the parties purloining was miser}' to them
and most annoying to me, who knew how their character
had been ill-formed, and the unfavourable surroundings
in which they were placed in this particular. My object
was to prevent, not to punish crime ; and by the plan
which I adopted, I could detect the loss of^a single bobbin
in any one of the four sets of hands through which they
had aaily to pass. Thus was theft effectually prevented
and while this change was in progress I never had one
punished, although many were detected.

There were four large mills filled with machinery, old
and ill-arranged. 1 his was replaced and the whole newly
arranged. Under the old arrangements the stairs were
continually crowded with carriers with baskets, convey-
ing the produce of the lower into the higher rooms, and
with others meeting them with the empty skips and
baskets. I therefore devised means, until then unprac-
tised, to take all up and bring all down without the use of
stairs.

I was greatly averse to punishments, and much
preferred as far as possible simple means to render
punishment unnecessary, as it is always unjust to the

ROBERT OWEN 189

individual. To prevent punishment by the overlooker
and masters of departments who had been accustomed to
, whip and strap the children and young people, and who
often from ignorance abused their authority, I invented
j what the people soon called a telegraph, which I have
I already described. This was the preventer of punish-
ment. There was no beating, — no abusive language.
I passed daily through all the rooms, and the workers
I observed me always to look at these telegraphs, — and
' when black I merely looked at the person and then at
the colour, — but never said a word to one of them by
way of blame. And if any one thought the inferior
colour was not deserved by him as given, it was desired
that complaint should be made to me. But this seldom
occurred. Now this simple device and silent monitor
soon began to show its effects upon the character of the
workers. At first a large proportion daily were black
and blue, few yellow, and scarcely any white. Gradually
the black, were changed for blue, the blues for yellow,
and the yellows for white. And for many years the
permanent daily conduct of a very large majority of
those who were employed, deserved and had No. i
placed as their character on the books of the establish-
; ment. Soon after the adoption of this telegraph I could
j at once see by the expression of countenance what was
/ the colour which was shown. As there were four colours
I there were four different expressions of countenance
I most evident to me as I passed along the rooms.
) Never perhaps in the history of the human race has
so simple a device created in so short a period so much
\ order, virtue, goodness, and happiness, out of so much
ignorance, error, and misery. How lamentable is it that
the priesthood of the world and the governments of
nations are yet ignorant of the immense happiness and
goodness which they could so easily create by adopting
simple and obvious means to prevent ignorance, poverty,
crime, disunion, and misery ; instead of encouraging by
their unwise conduct and proceedings the increase of
poverty, crime, disunion, and wretched destitution, and
then adopting the most unjust and cniel laws to punish

190 THE LIFE OF

in the helpless those evils to society which their unwise
teaching and governing have previously created.

Whenever the trial shall be honestly made and
persevered in, to govern the population of the world on
its true principle, and by practical measures to prevent
ignorance, poverty, disunion, crime, and misery, it will
be found to be an easy task and most economical to make
all nations and peoples good, wise, and continually
increasing in happiness.

The simple expedient of the little coloured telegraphs
did me another essential service. I had promised my
new partners, who generally were men of truly benevolent
dispositions, and who desired to improve the condition
of the working classes in their way, that I would buy
the business in which we were about to unite our interests,
give them five per cent, per annum for the capital which
they thus entrusted to my direction, while I continued
my plans and views for the general amelioration of all
classes at home and abroad. In this pursuit, as I had to
visit London often during the sittings of Parliament, and
thus to be absent in person from New Lanark for weeks
and sometimes months, it was necessary for me to make
my arrangements to prevent the establishment suffering
by my absence so long from it. The arrangements made
for this purpose were such, that I had an accurate daily
return sent to me of the detailed results in every depart-
ment of the manufacturing process, by which I knew the
real results of our daily progress by an almost instant
inspection of figures on half a sheet of paper, more readily
than I could have known them without such daily report
by the most close daily personal attention ; and as the
daily report of each coloured telegraph was entered in the
character books every night, all knew that on my return
to the establishment I should inspect these books and
see how every one had behaved on each day of my
absence.

I had divided the establishment into four general
departments, and had taken great pains and had given
much attention to train the four persons whom I placed
at the head of each of these departments to understand

ROBERT OWEN 191

my views respecting them and the mode of governing
those placed under their immediate direction. Upon
leaving the estabhshment when I expected to be absent
for a long period, it was my practice to call these four
together, and to explain fully what I wished to have done
in each department during my absence. And on my
return I uniformly found my wishes fulfilled, and my
instructions faithfully followed.

I also adopted the same practice with the teachers in
the three gradations of the schools, and with as much
success as I could expect from young persons of both
sexes, inexperienced in a correct knowledge of human
nature, and therefore not always capable of making the

i due allowance for the varied natural character of each

1 child.

' I had before this period acquired the most sincere
affections of all the children. I say of all — because every
child above one year old was daily sent to the schools.
I had also the hearts of all their parents, who were highly
deUghted with the improved conduct, extraordinary
progress, and continually increasing happiness of their
children, and with the substantial improvements by
which I gradually surrounded them. But the great
attraction to myself and the numerous strangers who now
continually visited the establishment, was the new infant
school ; the progress of which from its opening I daily
watched and superintended, until I could prepare the
mind of the master whom I had selected for this, in my
estimation, most important charge, — knowing that if
the foundation were not truly laid, it would be in vain to
expect a satisfactory structure.

It was in vain to look to any old teachers upon the old
system of instruction by books. In the previous old
schoolroom I had tried to induce the master to adopt
my views ; but he could not and would not attempt .to
adopt what he deemed to be such a fanciful " new-
"fangled" mode of teaching, and he was completely
under the influence of the minister of the parish, who was
himself also opposed to any change of system in teaching
children, and who considered that the attempt to educate

192

THE LIFE OF

and teach infants was altogether a senseless and vain
proceeding. I had therefore, although he was a good
obstinate "dominie" of the old school, reluctantly to
part with liim, and I had to seek among the population
for two persons who had a great love for and unlimited
patience with infants, and who were thoroughly tractable
and willing unreservedly to follow my instructions. The
best to my mind in these respects that I could find in
the population of the village, was a poor, simple-hearted
weaver, named James Buchanan, who had been pre-
viously trained by his wife to perfect submission to her
will, and who could gain but a scanty living by his now
dying trade of weaving common plain cotton goods
by hand. But he loved children strongly by nature, and
his patience with them was inexhaustible. These, with
his wilHngness to be instructed, were the qualities which
I required in the master for the first rational infant school
that had ever been imagined by any party in anj^
country ; for it was the first practical step of a system
new to the world ; — and yet with all my teaching of all
classes of the public, it is still little understood in prin-
ciple, and not at all yet conceived in practice, although
the high permanent happiness through futurity of our
race depends upon the principle and practice in all their
purity being correctly carried into execution by all
nations and people.

Thus thesimple-minded, kind-hearted JamesBuchanan,
who at first could scarcely read, write, or spell, became
the first master in a rational infant school. But infants
so young, also required a female nurse, to assist the
master, and one also who possessed the same natural
quahfications. Such an one I found among the numerous
young females employed in the cotton mills, and I was
fortunate in finding for this task a young woman, about
seventeen years of age, known familiarly among the
villagers as " Molly Young," who of the two, in natural
powers of mind, had the advantage over her new com-
panion in an office perfectly new to both.

The first instniction which I gave them was, that they
were on no account ever to beat any one of the children,

ROBERT OWEN 103

, or to threaten them in any manner in word or action,

t or to use abusive terms ; but were always to speak to

; them with a pleasant countenance, and in a kind manner

and tone of voice. That they should tell the infants

and children (for they had all from one to six years old

i under their charge) that they must on all occasions do

all they could to make their playfellows happy, — and

that the older ones, from four to six years of age, should

take especial care of younger ones, and should assist to

teach them to make each other happy.

These instructions were readily received by James
Buchanan and Molly Young, and were faithfully adhered
to by them as long as they remained in their respective
situations.

The children were not to be annoyed with books ;
but were to be taught the uses and nature or qualities
of the common things around them, by familiar con-
versation when the children's curiosity was excited so
as to induce them to ask questions respecting them.

The room for their play in bad weather was sixteen
feet by twenty, and sixteen feet high.

The schoolroom for the infant instruction was of the
same dimensions, and was furnished with paintings,
chiefly of animals, with maps, and often supplied with
natural objects from the gardens, fields, and woods, —
the examination and explanation of which always ex-
cited their curiosity and created an animated con-
versation between the children and their instructors,
now themselves acquiring new knowledge by attempting
to instruct their young friends, as I always taught them
to think their pupils were, and to treat them as such.

The children at four and above that age showed an
early desire to understand the use of the maps of the four
quarters of the world upon a large scale, which were pur-
posely hung in the room to attract their attention.
Buchanan, their master, was first taught their use, and
then how to instruct the children for their amusement, —
for with these infants everything was made to be amuse-
ment.

It was most encouraging and delightful to see the pro-

13

194 THE LIFE OF

gress which these infants and children made in real
knowledge, without the use of books. And when the
best means of instruction or forming character shall be
known, I doubt whether books will be ever used before
children attain their tenth year. And yet without books
they will have a superior character formed for them at
ten, as rational beings, knowing themselves and society
in principle and practice, far better than the best-in-
formed now know these subjects at their majority, or
the mass of the population of the world know them at
any age.

Human nature, its capacities and powers, is yet to be
learned by the world. Its faculties are unknown, un-
appreciated, and therefore misdirected, and wasted
lamentably in all manner of ways, to the grievous injury
of all our race through every succeeding generation.

When the beautiful and most wonderful organs, facul-
ties, propensities, powers, and qualities of humanity, for
the attainment of high excellence and happiness, shall
be understood, and shall be rationally taught by one
generation to its successor, truth will be the only language
among men, and the pure spirit of enlightened charity
and love will pervade the entire of the human race.
And how simple is truth and real knowledge, when un-
mixed with the errors and prejudices of ignorance, and
with a want of knowing how to apply practical measures
to bring truth and knowledge into the common affairs of
life ! Here, with the most simple means as agents, two
untaught persons, not having one idea of the office in
which they were placed, or of the objects intended to be
attained, accomplished, unknown to themselves, results
which surprised, astonished, and confounded the most
learned and wise, and the greatest men of their generation .
James Buchanan and Molly Young, by being for some
time daily instructed how to treat the infants and
children committed to their charge within the surround-
ings which had been previously created and arranged
for them, produced results, unconsciously to themselves,
which attracted the attention of the advanced minds of
the civilized world — results which puzzled the most ex-

ROBERT OWEN 195

perienced of them, to divine the power which could
mould humanity into the beings they came to see.

[ After some short time they were unlike all children of
such situated parents, and indeed unlike the children of

j any class in society. Those at two years of age and
above had commenced dancing lessons, and those of lOur
years of age and upwards singing lessons, — both under
a good teacher. Both sexes were also drilled, and be-
came efficient in the military exercises, being formed
into divisions, led by young drummers and fifers, and
they became very expert and perfect in these exercises.
But to teach dancing, music, and military discipline
to these infants and children, was an abomination to the
Society of Friends, and I now had three partners who
were Friends, and who were among the most distinguished
in their society — John Walker of Arno's Grove, Joseph
Foster of Bromley — both men of high, liberal, and
superior minds, with the kindest dispositions, — and
William Allen, a man of great pretensions in his sect, a
very busy, bustling, meddling character, making great
professions of friendship to me, yet underhandedly doing
all in his power to undermine my views and authority in
conducting the new forming of the character of the
children and of the population at New Lanark. Yet
such were the extraordinary good effects produced by
these un-Quaker-like proceedings, that not a word was
said by any of them for some years after our partnership
commenced, and it was only after a lapse of some years
that William Allen made objections, saying that his
society did not approve of them.

Now, as I had anticipated, dancing, music, and
military discipline, conducted on the principles of charity
and kindness to all of humankind, were among the best
and most powerful surroundings for forming a good and
happy character, that could be introduced. As a proof
of these results, — when Joseph Foster and William Allen
came from London, as they did occasionally, to visit me
at the establishment at New Lanark, I often found them
in the dcincing and singing rooms when the exercises
were going on, and enjoying the new scenes of happiness

196 THE LIFE OF

which, as Quakers from birth, they had never previously
.-^witnessed. Dancing, music, and the military discipline
will always be prominent surroundings in a rational
system for forming character. They give health, un-
affected grace to the body, teach obedience and order in
the most imperceptible and pleasant manner, and create
peace and happiness to the mind, preparing it in the best
manner to make progress in all mental acquisitions.

From this rational infant school have arisen all the un-
successful attempts to form a second with similar results.

The second attempt to form one was made by the
Marquis of Lansdowne, Lord Brougham, John Smith,
banker, M.P. ; Benjamin Smith, M.P. ; Henry Hase,
Esq., cashier of the Bank of England ; and, I believe,
James Mill, afterwards of the India House. Lord
Brougham, John Smith, and Henry Hase had frequently
visited New Lanark and enjoyed the goodness, happiness,
and intelligence of the children in these rational sur-
roundings, constituting the institution for the formation
of this new character ; and being benevolent men, they
naturally desired that so much goodness and happiness
should be if possible extended to all other poor children.
They asked me whether, if they could form a party to
establish one in London, I would give them James
Buchanan to be the master of their school. I replied —
" Most willingly, for I have pupils who can take his
"place without any injury to my school."

I had thought, from the daily instruction which,
when at the establishment I had as it were drilled into
him for years, that he could now act from himself in a
practice which under my direction, with the aid he
received from Molly Young, appeared so easy to execute.
But I found he could proceed no further in the practice
than he had done for some time.

The gentlemen named formed a party to carry the
proposed scheme into practice, and a school was erected
and furnished, and James Buchanan and his family
went to London, and he was appointed master, with
full powers over the school.

I now had to appoint and instruct a successor to James

ROBERT OWEN 197

Buchanan, and soon one of the new trained pupils, who
had passed through our schools, and who was therefore
much in advance of his former master as a scholar and
in habits, became greatly his superior, and by his youth
and vigour, aided by a fine enthusiasm in the cause,
which I had been enabled to create in him, a rapid advance
and improvement were made in the first year after
James Buchanan had left the school, and he, James
Buchanan, never afterwards saw it.

Now I expected he would have had his new school in
Westminster equal to the one he had been so much ac-
customed to for so long a period. But though he was a
willing servant, to attend to the instructions given to
him, as far as his good-natured limited powers would
admit, it proved that he had neither mind nor energy to
act for himself. It was some time after this second
school was established and in full action, before I could
leave New Lanark, having to train my new young master
to direct the infant school in my absence. This young
man had been systematically trained through our three
schools in the institution for forming character, and his
character had been well formed. He had imbibed the
true spirit of the system, and was eager to be taught the
means to carry the improvements which I wished into
practice. He was full of faculty for the employment,
and at sixteen years of age was the best instructor of
infants I have ever seen in any part of the world.

While these matters were in progress at New Lanark,
the fame of its infant school and of the institution for
the formation of character was noised abroad and
created much excitement, and travellers of distinction,
home and foreign, came increasingly year by year to
see what they called the wonders of New Lanark.

Knowing that inspection alone could give any adequate
impression of the results produced here. I freely opened
the whole establishment to the full investigation of all
comers. I said to the public — " Come and see, and
" judge for yourselves." [And the public came — not by
hundreds, but by thousands annually. I have seen as
many at once as seventy strangers attending the early

198 THE LIFE OF

morning exercises of the children in the school. At this
period the dancing, music, military discipUne, and geo-
graphical exercises were especially attractive to all
except " very pious " Christians. Yet even these last
could not refrain from expressing their wonder and
admiration at the unaffected joyous happiness of these
young ones, — children of the common working cotton-
spinners.

Being always treated with kindness and confidence,
and altogether without fear, even of a harsh word from
any of their numerous teachers, they exhibited an un-
affected grace and natural politeness, which surprised
and fascinated strangers, and which new character and
conduct were to most of them so unaccountable, that they
knew not how to express themselves, or how to hide
their wonder and amazement.

These children, standing up, seventy couples at a time,
in the dancing room, and often surrounded with many
strangers, would with the utmost ease and natural grace
go through all the dances of Europe, with so little
direction from their master, that the strangers would be
unconscious that there was a dancing master in the
room.

In their singing lessons, one hundred and fifty would
sing at the same time, — their voices being trained to
harmonize ; and it was delightful to hear them sing the
old popular Scotch songs, which were great favourites
with most strangers, from the unaffected simplicity and
heart feehng with which these songs were sung by these
children, whose natures had been naturally and rationally
cultivated.

In their military exercises they went through their
evolutions with precision equal, as many officers of the
army stated, to some regiments of the line ; and at their
head in their marchings were six and sometimes eight
young lifers, playing various marches. The girls were
thus disciplined, as well as the boys, and their numbers
were generally nearly equal. And it may be here re-
marked, that being daily brought up together, they
appeared to feel for and to treat each other as brothers

ROBERT OWEN 199

and sisters of the same family ; and so they continued
until they left the day schools at the age of twelve.

Their lessons in geography were no less amusing to
the children themselves and interesting to strangers.
At a very early age they were instructed in classes on
maps of the four quarters of the world, and after be-
coming expert in a knowledge of these, all the classes
were united in one large class and lecture room, to go
through these exercises on a map of the world so large
as almost to cover the end of the room. On this map
were delineated the usual divisions of the best maps,
except there were no names of countries or cities or
towns ; but for the cities and towns were small but
distinct circles to denote their places — the classes united
for this purpose generally consisted of about one hundred
and fifty, forming as large a circle as could be placed to
see the map. A light white wand was provided, sufficiently
long to point to the highest part of themap by the youngest
child. The lesson commenced by one of the children
taking the wand to point with. Then one of them would
ask him to point to such a district, place, island, city,
or town. This would be done generally many times in
succession ; but when the holder of the wand was at
fault, and could not point to the place asked for, he had
to resign the wand to his questioner, who had to go
through the same process. This by degrees became most
amusing to the children, who soon learned to ask for the
least-thought-of districts and places, that they might
puzzle the holder of the wand, and obtain it from him.
This was at once a good lesson for one hundred and fifty,
— keeping the attention of all alive during the lesson.
The lookers on were as much amused, and many as much
instructed, as the children, who thus at an early age
became so efficient, that one of our Admirals, who had
sailed round the world, said he could not answer many
of the questions which some of these children not six
years old readily replied to, giving the places most
correctly.

This room was also their class reading apartment. It
was forty feet b)? twenty, and twenty-two feet in height.

200 THE LIFE OF

with a gallery at one end to accommodate strangers.
At these lessons from six to eight masters and mistresses
were usually present, who were quite tenacious enough
about their reading according to rule.

From this room strangers were taken to the adjoining
apartment (the great writing, accounting, and lecture
room), in which were 250 or 300 children busily engaged
at their respective desks, writing or accounting ; and,
like the reading, according to the best modern arrange-
ments. This apartment was ninety feet long, forty
wide, twenty-two high, with a gallery on three sides, and
with a pulpit, from which to lecture, at one end.

It was from this pulpit that I addressed an audience
of about 1200 when I opened the institution. When I
had delivered about one-half of my address, I sat down,
and immediately a chorus of music was heard, but no
one saw whence it proceeded, and all were greatly
surprised. Musicians and singers had been placed in
the adjoining apartment, from which a door opened in
the gallery; and the music thus softened, appeared, as
many of the audience expressed themselves, like divine
music, they not knowing how or whence it came.

This institution for the formation of character, with
the establishment of New Lanark generally, while I kept
its immediate direction, was considered by the more
advanced minds of the world one of the greatest modern
wonders. Its results after I had united all its various
parts as one whole, working day by day, year after year,
for a quarter of a century, with the regularity of a well-
constructed timepiece, attracted the attention of the
governments and priesthoods of the world, and all of
them were sorely puzzled to discover the cause and means
by which those results were created and maintained.

Among the more distinguished of the thousands who
came to see, examine, and criticize these previously
unheard-of proceedings, were the late Emperor of Russia,
with nine or ten of his nobles and attendants, and
among them his favourite friend and physician, Sir
Alexander Crighton. They remained my visitors for
two nights. The Emperor was nmch pleased with my

ROBERT OWEN 201

two youngest sons, who were then at home. At his meals
he always would have one on his right hand and the other
on his left, and he had one at each hand while going
through the establishment, and while viewing the various
beautiful natural scenes immediately around the esta-
blishment, including the now celebrated Falls of the
Clyde.

The Emperor (at this time the Grand Duke Nicholas)
was, as I was informed, recommended to visit the estab-
lishment by his mother, the reigning Empress, who had
been much interested in the results produced in it,
having had an account of them from the Duke of Holstein-
Oldenburgh, a near relative of the imperial family, and
who, with his brother, had some time before spent
several days with me, taking a great interest, day by
day, while they remained my guests, in thoroughly
examining for themselves every part of this complicated,
but to all observers easy- working, machine of a scholastic
and manufacturing society, of a population of 2500 souls,
provided in a superior manner with all they required at
prime cost, without any trouble or loss of time to one
family in the village.

Before the Grand Duke left me he kindly inquired
what I intended to do with my two sons. Not being
aware of the intention of the Grand Duke to offer to
take them under his patronage and protection, I simply
replied — "To train them as cotton manufacturers" —
in consequence of which answer they were retained to
be made useful, independent, practical scientific men,
instead of being made dependent on court favour, and
subjected to all the evils of courtly favour or disfavour,
as might have happened to them.

At that time there was an outcry and great alarm
created by the Malthusians, who asserted that Great
Britain was over-peopled, and that the sufferings of the
poor and the want of employment for so many of the
working classes arose from an excess of population.
The modern political economists were daily forcing these
notions prominently on the public. In a two hours'
conversation with the Grand Duke before he left me, he

202 THE LIFE OF

said, " As your country is over-peopled, I will take you
" and two millions of population with you, and will
" provide for you all in similar manufacturing com-
" munities." I thanked his Imperial Highness for this
most liberal offer ; but being then independent in
pecuniary matters, and much attached to New Lanark
and its population, both now so much of my own creation,
I also declined this most liberal imperial offer. The re-
jection of his intended kindness to my two sons, and my
thus declining this magnificent offer, I have no doubt
left an unpleasant feeling of independence of courtly
favour. And in two other instances, with members of
this highly talented imperial family, I unintentionally,
from ignorance of courtly etiquette, must have appeared
to act rudely to them.

At an earlier period the Grand Duchess of Oldenburgh,
afterwards Queen of Wiirttemberg, visited London. She
had heard from the Duke of Holstein-Oldenburgh the full
particulars respecting the New Lanark establishment,
and that I was then in London on a visit with my
partner, Mr. Walker, of Arno's Grove, Southgate ; but
as I then had much public business to transact in
London, I was resident at his town house, 49 Bedford
Square. The Grand Duchess having learned I was in
town, sent her chief attendant to invite me to visit her,
and appointed an early hour the following morning for
my visit. I went accordingly, and was not only politely,
but kindly and frankly received. She requested me to
sit on the sofa on which she was sitting, and our con-
versation was continued without interruption for full
two hours. This was at the period when the allied powers
and their armies were in Paris. Her brother, the
Emperor Alexander, was, with the Sovereigns of Austria
and Prussia, engaged there in preparing the treaty of
peace, to establish permanent harmony in Europe, and
he was considered to be liberal in his views, and friendly
to all kinds of improvements. I was desirous to explain
to the Duchess my New Views of Society, which she
appeared readily to accept ; and I wished her to interest
her relative the Emperor in these views for the general

ROBERT OWEN 203

improvement of society. She said the Emperor was very
desirous to promote hberal views generally throughout
society, as far as his position would admit ; but that he
- could not do altogether as he wished. He could go only
so far with improvements in Russia, as he could carry
the leading nobles with him ; but his success in the
termination of this long war would give him more power
to act according to his wishes. She would explain my
views to him on her return home. She then began to
talk of the great pleasure expressed by the Duke of
Holstein-Oldenburgh with their visit to me while they
were my guests, and she entered freely into conversation
respecting family matters and domestic interests, gradu-
ally becoming easy and familiar in her manner, as with
an equal. I was at this time a mere cotton-spinning
manufacturer, unacquainted yet with the etiquette of
courts, and especially with that of imperial families,
and not then knowing that in such interviews the move to
terminate the visit should always come from the imperial
personage. Ignorantly and innocently supposing I had
trespassed too long on the time and patience of her
Imperial Highness, I concluded the interview by rising
and taking my leave of her, — on which I perceived too
late the error I had committed, seeing the mixed surprise
and disappointment expressed in the countenance of the
Grand Duchess.

After the late Emperor of Russia's visit with his nobles,
came Princes John and Maximihan of Austria,
Foreign Ambassadors, many bishops, and clergy
innumerable, — almost all our own nobihty, — learned
men of all professions from all countries, — and wealthy
travellers for pleasure or knowledge of every description.
But the establishment was at all times as freely open to
the inspection and close examination of the merely in-
quisitive seeker for some fault to publish it, or to the in-
telHgent traveller on foot who sought for knowledge to
promote its practice, as to those of high rank and
distinction.

These visits of inspection were valuable lessons to me
of human nature in all its varieties of manners, habits,

204 THE LIFE OF

prejudices, and knowledge ; the latter of which I en-
deavoured to collect from each, according to their measure
of it. It was a matter of deep interest to me to observe
the effects which these to all new measures in practice
made upon each visitor. Some of these effects made a
stronger impression on my mind than others, and as I
have occasionally related them, they have not yet escaped
my memory. And as a few of them may interest a
portion of the public, I will now relate them.

A very intelligent and evidently well-disposed clergy-
man came to visit the schools especially, having heard so
many extraordinary reports of them, to which he could
not give credit. After a calm, patient, and evidently
deeply interested attention to all he saw, and a full
examination of all the proceedings in the three schools,
and then through the whole establishment, — he said to
me, with great feeling in his manner — " Mr. Owen,
' what I have seen here has interested me most deeply.
' I came here a sceptic to your views of humanity.
' But what I have mtnessed to-day is altogether a new
' human nature to me. It is so strange and incom-
' prehensible to me, how you have obtained such results,
' that if my brother, in whose honest integrity I have
' not the slightest doubt, had told me on his personal
' knowledge that they existed, I could not have believed

* him. Nothing short of my own full inspection, exam-

* ination, and ocular demonstration, could have removed
' my scepticism, and have left the dehghtful impression
' which I have received."

On another occasion, of a visit from a lady of the
highest rank of our own nobility, who with her party
came to see what were now called the far-famed wonders
of New Lanark, — after inspecting the dancing, music,
and all the other lessons and exercises out of doors of
the infants and children in their playground, while
attentively witnessing their kindness of manner to each
other, their unaffected, unrestrained, joyous happiness,
and remembering their proficiency in their indoor exer-
cises, this lady said to me, with tears in lier eyes —
" Mr. Owen, I would give any money if my children

ROBERT OWEN 205

" could be made like these." And truly those who were
trained from infancy through these schools were by far
the most attractive, and the best and happiest human
beings I have ever seen. Their manner was unaffectedly
graceful, and, when spoken to by strangers, naturally
polite, with great innocent simpHcity. The total
absence of all fear, and full confidence in and affection
for their teachers, with the never-ceasing expression of
perfect happiness, gave these children of working cotton-
spinners a character for their age superior to any I have
yet seen, — but yet not nearly equal to that which will be
universally produced, when the surroundings before and
after birth shall be made rational for the formation of
character and the conducting of society.

My own children — seven of whom grew to manhood
and womanhood knowing nothing of punishment
through their lives — were, and those living are, such as
few parents have ever been blessed with. Yet were
they in some respects without the peculiar advantages
which I was enabled to give to what I called my great
family of associated children.

My good and kind-hearted wife, in consequence of
knowing how much time I spent among this great
family, and seeing the great mutual affection which
existed between them and myself, would jokingly say —
" Why, you love those children better fhan your own ! "
And no one who was with them as much as I was, could
avoid having a great affection for them. And although
some were of course more affectionate and attractive in
their natural character than others, my instructions to
their teachers were, that they should never show partiality
for any, — for it would be doing injustice to the others.
This, as I felt by myself, was not a very easy task for
the teachers to learn and practise ; but after some time
it was pretty well adhered to.

Let society adopt common sense surroundings and
measures to form a good and superior character for all
children from their birth, and none will be able to refrain
from loving them ; and this is the only mode under
heaven by which man can be made to love his neighbour

2o6 THE LIFE OF -

as himself, and only under the practice of the federated
family commonwealths and federated nationalities.

The other incident vividly on my memory was the
visit of the late Lord Stowell and his daughter — after-
wards Lady Sidmouth. They came one day late in the
afternoon, and the gatekeeper of the entrance into the
working part of the establishment came to me while
I was engaged in the superintendence of some of the
operations, and said that " Lord Stewart " and his
daughter wished to see the establishment. Not knowing
who Lord Stewart was, I said — " Request them to come,
" and conduct them here." They came, and I com-
menced to show them the machinery, and while thus
engaged, a servant came from Braxfield, which was
about a quarter of a mile from the centre of these multi-
tudinous operations, to annoimce dinner, and I said —
" My Lord, will you take a family dinner with me,
"and afterwards we can see more of the works and the
" evening proceedings of the adults in the schools ? "
His Lordship, turning to his daughter, said — " What do
" you say ? Shall we accept Mr. Owen's invitation ? "
" Yes, by all means," was her reply.

After dinner, over our wine, the conversation turned
to politics and the state of the country, — when I observed
that it was much to be regretted that there was not one
superior statesman living, to do justice to the enormous
means which the country possessed to secure its per-
manent propserity and the happiness of its population.
" What ! " said his Lordship, — " do you not think there
" is one superior statesman, equal to this task ? " lajdng
great emphasis on the word one. " No, my Lord, —
" there does not appear to me one competent to this
" task." The conversation continued animated for
some time, the ladies being absent.

We then returned to the works, to see the evening
instruction and amusements of the adult part of the
population, after the business of the day had terminated.
Some were at reading, some at writing lessons, others,
more advanced, were reading for their pleasure. Some
were in the dancing, and some attending the music

ROBERT OWEN 207

rooms, — all busily engaged according to their inclinations.
All this amused and interested his Lordship and his
daughter, and when these visits had terminated, they
returned to their hotel at Old Lanark.

While his Lordship was dining with me, his servant
was dining with my servants in the hall ; and on my
return home after the departure of my guests I learned,
to my surprise, that it was not Lord Stewart, but Lord
Stowell, who had but lately been Sir William Scott.
In the morning I went to Old Lanark to call to ask my
last night's visitors to come to see the infant and the
other day schools, which I said were in reality the most
interesting parts of the estabhshment ; and also to
apologize to his Lordship for calling him Lord Stewart.
Their time, he said, would not permit them to return to
New Lanark to see the infant and other schools, of which
they had heard so much ; for their engagements com-
pelled them to proceed on their journey immediately
after they had concluded breakfast. His Lordship
added jocularly — " We members of the Government are
" very like highwaymen ; for we change our names so
" often that it is no wonder we are not known, or that
" one is so often mistaken for another."

It would, however, be endless here to enumerate the
persons of distinction, for birth, talent, or wealth, who
visited the establishment ; and the numbers coming
continually increased while I remained to conduct it.
Some who were more connected with particular events
I must enumerate.

Dr. Hammel, the Russian collector of knowledge for
his court, was often a visitor with me, and his visits were
always acceptable, and instructive on many subjects.

The present Baron Goldsmid, then a young married
man, hearing of the success in teaching children, and
especially infants, asked to come and stay some time with
me, to see and learn the principles and practices, that
he might apply them in the education of his yoimg family
as they came and as they grew up. He applied himself
with great industry to his task, and his success was
equal to his industry. After remaining some time, he

2o8 THE LIFE OF

returned, and communicated the knowledge which he
had seen in practice to Mrs. (now Lady) Goldsmid, one
of the best of wives and mothers ; and together they
trained and educated a family of eight, as nearly ac-
cording to the system of New Lanark, as a conscientious
adherence to the Jewish religion would admit. Often
have I been an inmate on the most friendly terms in
this family — many times for weeks together ; but on no
one occasion did I ever hear an unpleasant expression
between the young persons composing the family, or
between parents and children, — and this through a
period of nearly, if not quite, half a century.

Among the many foreign Ambassadors who came was
the good Baron Just, the Ambassador for so many years
of the late King of Saxony to this and other countries.
He was now about to terminate his official duties at our
court, and to retire into private life, for which he told me
he had at length obtained his sovereign's consent.
Baron Just was a very interesting character, and a truly
good and most unassuming philanthropist. He came to
visit me, stayed some time, and took a deep interest in
the investigation of my views and of their application to
the population of New Lanark. He expressed his hearty
approbation of all he witnessed, and said he should never
forget what he had heard and seen. This was an ex-
pression which I so often heard from my visitors, that
I received it as their impression for the time, and I
remembered it only as the expression of the natural
feelings of the parties at the moment. But not long
after the Baron left me, he returned to Dresden, and to
my great surprise I received from the King, with com-
plimentary letters from the Government, through the
Prime Minister and Baron Just, a large gold medal of
merit, with the impress of his Majesty ; and for which
I have always felt that I made a very inadequate reply.
I was engaged in working with long foresight for the
emancipation of the population of the world, and es-
pecially of the ill-directed and ill-placed working classes.
I was jealous and fearful of too much courtly favour, as
it miglit impede my future progress. I therefore never

ROBERT OWEN 209

until long after made this royal gift public ; knowing that
my so doing would retard my progress in gaining the
confidence of the men whom I intended to instruct and
direct for their good at a future period.

My public proceedings had now attracted the attention
of several members of our Royal Family. The Duke of
York sent a messenger to request I would visit him. But
I could never discover the object which his Royal High-
ness had in view ; for our communication was very
common-place, and without interest to me. Their
Royal Highnesses the Dukes of Kent and Sussex some-
times came to me while residing in Bedford Square, and
once especially they came to see the cubes which I had
invented to exhibit to the eye the proportionate amount
of the different classes of society according to Mr.
Colquhoun's division of them in his Resources of the British
Empire. On this particular occasion the Royal Dukes
brought some of their friends among the nobility to see
these cubes, which, simple as they were, the public
deemed a useful curiosity. I placed these cubes on the
table in the order of their bulk, to explain them to the
royal personages and the noblemen present. The cube
representing the working class was put the lowest, and
the series gradually ascended to the cube representing
the Royal Family and Lords Spiritual and Temporal,
with their families ; and when I placed this last cube on
the top, it appeared so strikingly insignificant, com-
pared with all below, and especially when compared with
the cubes representing the working and the pauper
classes, that the Duke of Sussex impulsively pushed the
elbow of his royal brother, saying — " Edward, do you
" see that ? " And the whole party for the moment
seemed confused, feeling and seeing the real weakness of
their class as to numbers, compared with all the others.

From that period I was often with one or other of
these Royal Dukes, or more frequently with both
together, at Kensington Palace. But more of these
liberal royal brothers in my subsequent proceedings.
I must now return to narrate other events connected
with the infant school.

14

2io THE LIFE OF

When James Buchanan went to London to organize
and take charge of the first infant school, intended to be
after the model of the original school at New Lanark,
which had attracted and was attracting so much atten-
tion at home and abroad, I had to remain at the establish-
ment much longer than usual, to instruct my young new
infant-schoolmaster in the advanced measures which I
wished him to adopt, finding him to possess the right
spirit and much good talent for the task. He so rapidly
took up my views, that in a short period the school and
children were greatly improved and in advance of the
state in which they were when James Buchanan left his
situation.

But simple and weak-minded as poor Buchanan was,
I had taken so much time and trouble to instruct him,
and had so endeavoured continually to arouse his
energies to perceive the importance of the task com-
mitted to him, that I fully expected he would in his new
position organize and establish his new school after the
model of the first, with which he had been made so
familiar in its practice. But great were my surprise and
horror when I first visited the second infant school, which
was situated in Westminster, and was under the auspices
of great names and good men, but who themselves knew
nothing of the requisite practice, and could not therefore
give poor Buchanan the aid and support which he re-
quired, and without which it was now evident to me
he could do little or nothing that was efficient. On
entering the school, the first object which I saw was
Mrs. Buchanan, whom I had never seen in the New
Lanark school, brandishing a whip, and terrifying the
children with it ! Buchanan I saw in another part of
the room, apparently without authority or influence,
and as much subject to his wife as the children. Upon
my unexpected appearance an attempt was made to hide
the whip, but the countenances of the children were so
different from the open, frank, and happy expression of
my children at New Lanark, that they at once told me
their position, and the extent of ignorant management
to which they had to submit. The room was something

ROBERT OWEN 211

of the form of one of the New Lanark infant rooms, but
the school was governed in the spirit and manner of the
old irrational schools, with the difference only that the
children were younger than those received in the old
schools. f?i

While this school was thus so grossly mismanaged by
Mrs. Buchanan and her husband (though said to be
after the model of New Lanark, to which it had no
resemblance), a person, afterwards well known as
William Wilderspin. came frequently to see James
Buchanan and his wife, and to see their operations in the
school.

The Society of Friends, hearing so much of the New
Lanark infant school from the public press, confirmed
by their respected and known members, John Walker,
Joseph Foster, and William Allen, — became desirous of
having one under their own immediate patronage ; and
they erected a school in Spitaltields, and appointed
William Wilderspin to be the master of it. Being in-
formed of this third school, I went to see it, and on
conversing with Wilderspin, I learned he had been often
to see the Westminster school. I told him that was a
very inferior model to copy ; and finding him very
desirous and willing to learn, and much more teachable
than my first master, having much more talent and tact
for the business, I gave him general and minute in-
struction how to act with the children, and to govern
them without punishment, by affection and unde^dating
kindness. Hf seemed fully to appreciate this attention
to him, and requested I would come as often as I could
to instruct him and give him the benefit of my experience.
I did so, and had great pleasure in thus teaching him,
finding that no part of my instruction was disregarded,
but that what I recommended was faithfully followed.
And he became an apt disciple of the spirit and practice
of the system, so far as the outward and material mode
was concerned. But as a first step towards forming a
rational character for a rational system of society, he
had no powers of mind to comprehend it. And I
did not attempt to advance his knowledge so as to

212 THE LIFE OF

unfit him to act under the patronage of his then
supporters.

When Wilderspin had attained such proficiency in
managing the infants as his imperfect acquirements
admitted, he pubhshed a work explanatory of what he
had accomphshed, and recommended the system to the
attention of the pubhc. And in the first edition (for he
afterwards pubhshed several editions) he acknowledges
his great obligation to me for my attention and the
trouble I had taken to instruct him in a knowledge of the
spirit and practice of the system . So far Wilderspin was
honest and sincere ; and had it not been for the so-called
pious and the would-be over-righteous he m.ost likely
would have continued so ; for so long as I visited him
there was no appearance to the contrary. Subsequent
events, as we shall see, proved that he could not resist
the temptations held out to him by the religious, or
those who professed to be so.

I have dwelt so long on the infant school established
at New Lanark, because it was tlie first rational step
ever carried in^qjpractice towai:d&^^3er-miBg-a-fa4;ional
cTiaracter for the human race ; j.nd ^because of the many
important sjabsequent.jneasures to_aZELcIf4l-gave rise,
and which will be narrated in tTieir order of time. These
wiTich llaviFbeeii'^tated ivtT:'e^ut prelimmaryTneasures,
of little importance in comparison with those which
succeeded ; but they will serve to make the events
which followed better understood.

I have now to narrate the public proceedings which by
my means were set in action in 1817, and which aroused
the attention of the civilized world, alarmed the govern-
ments, astounded the religious sects of every denomina-
tion, and created an excitement in all classes, such as
seldom occurs, except in cases of revolution. It was the
public announcement of a new and strange system of
society, by an ordinarily educated cotton-spinning
manufacturer. It was a proceeding unprecedented in
the annals of history, and its consequences have been
fermenting to this day, and are continuing to ferment,
throughout society, and will now advance without

ROBERT OWEN 213

retrogression until they shall so regenerate the human
mind, that it shall be " born again," and will entirely
change society over the world, in spirit, principle, and
practice, giving new surroundings to all nations, until
not one stone of the present surroundings of society shall
be left upon another. For in consequence of this change
" old things will entirely pass away and all will become
" new."

The proceedings which lirst publicly announced to the
world the rational and only true system of society
for the human race, occupied the excited attention of the
civilized world especially during the summer and autumn
of 1817, and to a considerable extent afterwards, until
I left this country in 1824, to go to the United States
to sow the seeds of it in that new fertile soil — new for
material and mental growth — the cradle of the future
liberty of the human race — a liberty yet so little under-
stood by the present population of the United States,
as well as by that of all the old states. Liberty is a word
continually used, but nowhere yet understood. For
true liberty can exist only in a society based on a true
knowledge of humanity, and constructed to be consistent
with that foundation, in all its parts and as a whole.
This will constitute the rational system of society, which
is to give i)ractically the greatest individual liberty that
human nature can enjoy. Because it will of necessity
make each one good, wise, and happy ; and such only
can ever be trusted with the full amount of individual
liberty.

This was the announcement of that new state of exist-
ence upon earth, which, when understood and applied
rationally to practice, will cordially unite all as one good
and enlightened family, — will enable all rapidly to
progress in knowledge and wisdom, and to enjoy without
interruption the highest earthly happiness to which man
can attain.

The proceedings connected with these first public
meetings, which I held in the City of London Tavern,
were minutely and accurately narrated in all the London
morning and evening newspapers, published for general

214 THE LIFE OF

news at that period. And in this work the Times took
the leading interest. And until the meeting at which I
emphatically and solemnly, at the risk of all that men
hold dear, even to life itself, denounced in the strongest
terms all the religions as they were taught to the world,
the Times was the warmest in my praise and in praise
of the measures which I recommended, — often giving
columns in the same paper to the development of the
system as I gave it to the public — as may be seen by
referring to its pages from the 30th of July to the loth
of September 1817.

The attention of the public was first called to these
extraordinary proceedings by the publication of my
report to the committee for the relief of the manufacturing
and labouring poor, his Grace the Archbishop of Canter-
bury (Sutton) in the chair. This report being considered
by that committee to be too large and important in a
national view for their consideration, requested me to
present it to the Committee of the House of Commons
on the Poor Laws, then sitting with the foregone deter-
mination to rob the poor of their just and until then
their legal rights, — that is the right to efficient relief
when unable to work or to find employment, and that
that relief should be given in accordance with the dictates
of humanity for suffering poverty, and not in the cruel
manner in which it is now scantily doled out to them
in the present practice at many workhouses.

The animus of this Committee of the House of Com-
mons on the Poor Law might be deduced from the fact
that I was known by all the members of the committee
to possess at least as much practical knowledge of the
working classes and of the cases of poverty among them,
as any witness which they examined, and was now
considered an authority on the subject. Yet, as I have
already stated, this committee debated for two whole
days, with closed doors, whether or not I should be
examined by them ; and at the end of the second day's
debate it was decided by a small majority, after I had
been invited to attend the committee for examination,
that I should 7iot be examined. The cause of this w^s

ROBERT OWEN 215

evident. The majority of the members (who had made
-' up their minds, influenced by the Malthusian irrational
notions of over-population, to depress the poor out of
existence, instead of finding them employment at decent
living wages) knew that my evidence would go far to
defeat their object, by recommending my- own remedy
for poverty and crime, — namely, " a rational education,
" and reproductive employment by the nation, for those
" who were unable to have themselves so instructed, or
" to find employment, and that they should be treated
" like human beings, and not as the outcasts of society."

The proceedings connected with this announcement of
a new system for governing the affairs of men, excited so
much interest in the public mind, that in addition to
their publication in extenso in every London morning
and evening newspaper, I generally purchased thirty
thousand additional copies, and had one copy sent to the
minister of every parish in the kingdom, one to every
member of both Houses of Parliament, one to each
of the chief magistrates and bankers in each city and town
and one to each of the leading persons in all classes.

But these were not sufficient to satisfy the general
\ public with the proceedings connected with my public
iaeetings, and with my announcement of a new system
m principle, spirit, and practice, for the government of
the human race. To meet this extraordinary excitement
in the general public, I published three broadsheets,
numbered one, two, and three, containing the details of
these public proceedings, as published in the Times and
m the other London morning and evening papers. Of
these I published forty thousand copies ; and such was
the eagerness to procure them, that the forty thousand
were called for in three days, and I was then constrained
to stop so expensive a process, — foii I found that these
meetings, and giving them the extra pubhcity necessary
for the great ultimate object which I had in contem-
plation, had already in two months required from me four
thousand pounds — newspapers then costing yd. and 8d.
each.\

Intending to pave the way to supersede the present

2i6 THE LIFE OF

false and wicked system, as I had discovered it to be,
by the true and good system for governing the human
race and new-forming the character of all humanity,
I knew it was useless to wage a little or a covert war
against a system established through the proceedings
of all past times in the minds and habits of the present
generation, and that ultimate success could be antici-
pated only from an open front attack, taking the bull
by the horns, and fairly pitting truth, so far denounced
by all parties, against falsehood supported by the powers
of this world — rightly declared to be the " powers of
" darkness " — for the populations of all nations had been,
and even now are, governed by thick mental darkness.

I well knew that the man who should have the temerity
to openly denounce this system of thick mental dark-
ness, must anticipate the opposition of that power, by
and through all its darkest means of acting. My mind,
however, was made up for the contest, whatever might
be its consequences.

I must now refer for particulars to these printed papers
— one, two, and three, which are given in the Appendix.
Numbers one and two contain the documents which
prepared the public for the first of these meetings, and
which were published, as will be seen on reference, on the
30th of July and on the 9th and loth of August 1817,
while they announced the meeting to be held on the 14th
of the same month. These explanatory notices were
widely published by the London newspapers, and created
universal excitement ; for, before the hour of meeting
on the 14th, the large room of the City of London
Tavern, in which all great public meetings were then
held, was crammed to its utmost, the wide stairs crowded
to excess, and hundreds waiting outside to gain admit-
tance. And during the meeting many thousands came
who were obliged to return, there being no chance of
entrance for them. The meeting created the deepest
interest, and was conducted with calm order. ; While I
delivered the address there was a silence of riveted
attention. But towards the conclusion of the meeting,
the violent and most ignorant of the democracy, so

;

ROBERT OWEN 217

called, endeavoured to excite a tumult, and did create
disorder. But those who came with a view to investigate
and to attend to business rationally, soon put an end to
it by moving an adjournment.

The next day the public were surprised to see the
meeting reported in every London morning and evening
newspaper, and my address accurately given in each.
This was one of the occasions when I purchased upwards
of thirty thousand newspapers in the day, and forwarded
them, Avith my name printed on the corner of the wrapper.
Each paper was also franked by some member of
Parliament ; and these were franked by Lord Lascelles,
the then most influential member of the House of
Commons, who had previously so much assisted .me in
the preliminary measures to introduce my Bill for the
relief of children and others employed in manufactories,
mills, etc., and who was afterwards Earl of Harewood.

On this occasion I sent more extra newspapers than
usual, and had the addresses previously prepared, so
that they went in such numbers to the post office, that
the secretary had to send an official minute to the
Treasury, saying that Mr. Owen had sent so many extra
newspapers, that all the mail coaches of the kingdom had
to be delayed twenty minutes beyond their regular time
of leaving London. I was informed that the stoppage of
the mails, and the publication of my address in extenso
in every morning and evening paper of the day (I believe
of sixteen papers), had seriously alarmed the Govern-
ment, which I by no means intended to do ; for the
Governrnent had been on all occasions most friendly to
me, and\ I afterwards learned from the Dean of West-
minster, who had been private secretary to Lord Liver-
pool for some time, that his Lordship and many of his
Cabinet were converts to the New Views which I
advocated^j

On being informed of this alarm of the Government,
which was heightened by all the London and many of
the provincial newspapers being loud in praising my
measures, and giving great aid to the circulation of them
among all classes, making me decidedly the most popular

2i8 THE LIFE OF

man of the day, — I asked Lord Liverpool for an inter-
view, two days before the second meeting, which had been
adjourned to the 21st of August to give all parties suffi-
cient time to take their measures in opposition to it.
The interview was immediately appointed for twelve
o'clock the next day at his Lordship's private house.
The door was opened before I had time to ring the bell,
and I was shown at once into the apartment of the
private secretary, who was then Mr. Peel, afterwards
the talented and celebrated prime minister, — the second
Sir Robert Peel, — who on my entering arose, and said
with great deference in his manner, " My Lord Liverpool
" will see you immediately," — and then remained stand-
ing while I was seated for two or three minutes, when
Lord Liverpool came hastily from his private room
adjoining, to request me to walk in.

I mention these particulars here to show the effect
which my extraordinary popularity produced on the
Government ; and it was equally paramount with the
population of all classes.

Lord Liverpool gave me a seat, and with considerable
diffidence and agitation in his manner, said — " Mr. Owen,
" what is your wish ? " — in a tone of voice and with an
expression of countenance as much as to say, — " Your
" wishes shall be gratified." And I beheve the Govern-
ment would have given me any place or station, or almost
anything I should ask ; for it was evident that they felt
they were at my mercy. Such had been the influence of
surrounding circumstances, one succeeding another, and
over which I had had but little control ; and I was as
much surprised by these new and strange events and
proceedings as the Government and the people. But
this popularity produced a different effect upon me than
to cause me to think of any private advantage or worldly
consideration. I had pondered well after the first meet-
ing, what course to pursue to gain ultimately the great
object which it was indelibly impressed on my mind that
I must endeavour against all hazards to attain, — that
is, the change of a false, wicked, and most cmel system of
society, creating misery to all, — for the true, just, mercj-

ROBERT OWEN 219

ful, and good system of society, that will ultimately
secure the permanent progress in knowledge and wisdom
and the unceasing happiness and rational enjoyment
of all.

I knew that the population of the world, in spirit,
principle, and practice, was unprepared for the change
which I foresaw must be the ultimate destiny of the
human race. I had calmly considered the obstacles to
be overcome, to give a new mind and new habits to all
of human kind. I had discovered that the great obstacle
to all substantial and lasting progress and improvement
among men, was the Religions of the nations of the earth,
and that unless this difficulty could be overcome, man-
kind must remain in perpetual bondage to the most
gross and childish ignorance — an ignorance destructive
of all the rational faculties of humanity.

I knew the deep-seated prejudices of all people in
favour of their respective religions, and that millions
were prepared to die rather than to abandon them.
But I knew also that until they could be made to abandon
them., for a consistent practical religion, based on
different ideas of the Great Creating Power of the
Universe, — man could not be made to attain to the rank
of a reasonable, rational, and happy being.

After the first meeting, several of the religious papers
were loud in calling upon me to declare my views of
religion, and in their demands to know what rehgion I
possessed. Under all these considerations I communed
with myself what course I should pursue at the adjourned
meeting, and I had decided upon that course before this
interview with the Prime Minister. I therefore rephed
to his Lordship's question, that all I desired was, that
his Lordship and his Cabinet would allow their names
to be upon the committee of investigation which I should
propose at the meeting the next day, with an equal
number of the leading members of the opposition in
both Houses, if my proposed resolutions should be
carried.

On my saying this, I never saw any one so immediately
relieved from an apparent great anxiety, — and his

220 THE LIFE OF

Lordship replied in the most confiding manner, " Mr.
" Owen, you have full liberty to make any use of our
" names you desire and which you may think useful to
" your views, short of imphcating us as a Government."
I thanked his Lordship, who came with me into the
private secretary's apartment, when Mr. Peel again rose
and stood until I left Lord Liverpool, who, at my de-
parture was a very different man from what he appeared
when the interview commenced.

But what was the course which I had determined to
pursue at the adjourned meeting, which now excited the
greatest interest throughout the metropolis and the
country ? What I intended to say was too important
to be left to the inaccuracy of reporters at a pubhc
meeting ; and all the conductors of the daily morning
and evening papers had applied to me for copies of what
I intended to say in my address the next day. In order
that no one might have a preference over the others, I
told them that if they would come to me when my
address should be about half dehvered, they should be
supplied with copies of the whole address. I had there-
fore sixteen copies made of the address as I intended to
deliver it, having a blank space left in them by the
copiers, for me afterwards to fill up before I gave them
to the parties applying for them at the meeting, and these
I filled in the morning before going to the meeting. I
gave no one the least idea of what my intentions were,
because I knew that no one was then prepared to com-
prehend my motives, views, and conduct, and that every
one would, with their mind and feehngs, have strongly
advised a different mode of proceedings.

Knowing that what I should say at the meeting would
be published the next day in the London morning and
evening newspapers, that the public mind was highly ex-
cited over the subject, and that what should be said by
me would be widely circulated over the civilized world ;
— and knowing also that unless a deathblow could be
given to all the existing false religions of the world,
there could be no hope for man's hberation from the
bondage of ignorance, disunion, and misery ; — and feeling

ROBERT OWEN 22 1

that in my then position I was the only individual living
who had the slightest chance to accomplish such a task,
— I resolved to dare the deed, knowing that it was at
that period at the hazard of hfe only that it could be
done ; and my determination was. at a particular part
of my address, to denounce and reject all the religions
of the world. _^^,..^ ■

When I went to this meeting," ever to be remembered
in the annals of history, no one except myself had any
notion of what I intended to do and to say in the part
of the address alluded to. The pubhc mind of the metro-
polis on the morning previous to the commencement of
the meeting was in a most excited state. The then
friends of my views, so far as I had disclosed them, came
in continually increasing numbers, — the great majority
of these being of the best disposed among the upper
classes in Church and State, and of the upper portion of
the middle classes, who were sincerely desirous to improve
the condition of the poor and working classes, if it could
be done in order, in peace, and without a revolution of
violence.

At this period I had had no public intercourse with the
operatives and working classes in any part of the two
Islands, — not even in the metropolis. They were at this
time strangers to me and to all my views and future
intentions. I was at all periods of my progress, from my
earliest knowledge and employment of them, their true
friend. While their democratic and much mistaken
leaders taught them that I was their enemy, a friend to
all in authority, and that I desired to make slaves of
them in these villages of unity and mutual co-operation.

On the other hand, my opponents had -been most
industrious in marshalling their forces, and they were
led to the meeting by the popular orators of the day,
and these were encouraged in their opposition by the
leading active members of the then popular school of
modern political economy.

This meeting was densely crowded, although held at
noon, and again hundreds and thousands had to be dis-
appointed who could not gain admittance, and many

222 THE LIFE OF

waited until five o'clock before any moved to allow of
their entrance, and even afterwards, until its dismissal
at seven, it remained crowded ; for as soon as any retired
others who were waiting immediately occupied their
places.

Knowing what I intended to do, I went alone, that no
one might be implicated in my proceedings. When I
went to this meeting I was on the morning of that day
by far the most popular individual in the civilized world,
and possessed the most influence with a majority of the
leading members of the British Cabinet and Government.
I went to the meeting with the determination by one
sentence to destroy that popularity, but by its destruc-
tion to lay the axe to the root of all false religions, and
thus to prepare the population of theworldfor the reignof
charity in accordance with the natural laws of humanity,
— or, in other words, in accordance with all facts and
common sense or consistent reason.

I commenced my address, and continued amidst much
applause and cheering from the friends of the cause
which I advocated, until I approached that part in which
I denounced all fhe religions of the world as now taught ;
when by my manner I prepared the audience for some
extraordinary proceeding. And when I in a firm voice
said — "A more important question has never been put
" to the sons of men — Who can answer it ? Who dares
" answer it ? but with his life in his hand — a ready
" and willing victim to truth, and to the emancipation
" of the world from its long bondage of error, crime, and
" misery ? Behold that victim ! On this day ! in this
" hour ! even now ! shall those bonds be burst asunder,
" never more to re-unite while the world lasts! What
" the consequences of this daring deed shall be to
" myself I am as indifferent about, as whether it shall
" rain or be fair to-morrow ! Whatever may be the
" consequences, I will now perform my duty to you
" and to the world. And should it be the last act of my
" life, I shall be well content, and shall know that I
" have lived for an important purpose. Then, my
" friends ! I tell you, that hitherto you have been pre-

ROBERT OWEN 223

" vented from knowing what happiness really is, solely

" in consequence of the errors — gross errors " The

meeting here became excited to the highest pitch of
expectation as to what was to follow ; and a breathless
silence prevailed so that not the slightest sound could
be heard. I made a slight pause, and, as my friends
afterwards told me, added a great increase of strength
of feeling and dignity to my manner, of which at the
time I was wholly unconscious, and in that state of
mind I finished the sentence, as stated in paper No. 3,
and I then again paused for some seconds, to observe
the effects of this unexpected and unheard-of declara-
tion and denouncement of all existing rehgions, in one
of the most numerous public meetings of all classes
ever held in the British metropolis under cover and at
midday.

My own expectations were, that such a daring de-
nouncement in opposition to the deepest prejudices of
every creed, would call down upon me the vengeance of
the bigot and superstitious, and that I should be torn to
pieces in the meeting. But great was my astonishment
at what followed. A pause ensued, of the most profound
silence, but of noiseless agitation in the minds of all,
— none apparently knowing what to do or how to
express themselves. All seemed thunderstruck and
confounded. My friends were taken by surprise, and
were shocked at my temerity, and feared for the result.
Those who came with the strongest determination to
oppose me, had, as they afterwards stated to me, their
minds changed as it were by some electric shock, and
the utmost mental confusion seemed to pervade the
meeting, none venturing to express their feelings j and
had I not purposely paused and waited some demon-
stration from the audience, I might have continued my
address in the astonished silence which I had produced.
But when I did not proceed, and while I evidently waited
for some expression of the feehng of the audience, after
the long pause in silence, about half-a-dozen clergymen
who had attentively listened to all I had said, deemed it
incumbent upon them on account of their profession to

224 THE LIFE OF

attempt to lead the meeting by a few low hisses. But
these, to my great astonishment, were instantly rebutted
by the most heartfelt applause from the whole of the
meeting, with the exception stated, that I ever witnessed,
before or since, as a public demonstration of feeling.

I then said to the friends near me — " The victory is
" gained. Truth openly stated is omnipotent."

I then proceeded, and finished my address, which was
again loudly cheered. A long debate followed, by those
who desired to defeat my proposed resolution ; but it
was evident that the great majority of the meeting who
had been present from its commencement desired the
resolution to be carried, for the appointment of a com-
mittee to investigate my plans for the relief of the poor.

My opponents seeing this, now sent out their emissaries
to bring in numbers to fill the places of those gradually
retiring, and the political economists, whose leaders were
there, determined to speak against time, and to keep
the meeting open until the workpeople could be brought,
when coming from their work at seven o'clock, to vote
without knowledge of what had been said or done. By
this time the respectable part of the audience had been
tired out, or had left and gone to their dinner. I had
accomplished my object, and was nov/ indifferent what
became of the resolution, knowing that lor a considerable
time I had destroyed my popularity with those who had
been taught to believe and not to think, and these were
legion. When the vote was taken, there was great
confusion, for much excitement had been created by
those who were opposed to giving real and permanent
relief to the poor and working classes. Even at the con-
clusion the majority were decidedly in my favour ; —
but, to terminate the meeting peaceably, I decided that
the resolution was negatived, and then terminated the
meeting.
\ I have from that day to this considered that day the
most important of my life for the public : — the day on
which bigotry, superstition, and all false religions,
received their death-blow. \ For from that day to this
they have been gradually losing their strength and

ROBERT OWEN 225

power, and dying their natural death in all advanced
minds over the world, and soon they will cease to make
the human race irrational, divided, and wicked, and to
retain them in ignorance of God or nature, of themselves,
and of the road to wisdom and happiness.

The deed was done. Truth had escaped, as it were by
a miracle, from the hitherto never unfixed grasp of the
false religions of the nations of the earth. And it was
sent on the wings of the press to the people of all lands,
in such a manner as ultimately to destroy all falsehood,
bigotry, superstition, disunion, ignorance, crime, and
misery, and to ensure a continued progress without retro-
gression of knowledge, union, wisdom, and happiness.

Few, if any, had the slightest idea of the effects which
these proceedings were to produce over the public mind
of the world. Their influence commenced immediately,
has continually increased from that day to this, and will
continue to increase until the old system of the world
shall cease from the earth, and truth, charity, and y
wisdom shall govern the human race to the end of time. /^

In all my travels subsequently into foreign countries,
these meetings had prepared for me a kind and reverential
reception among the highest and most advanced minds
with whom I came into communication. In Jamaica,
St. Domingo, Mexico, the United States, and the
Continent of Europe, they were a perpetual passport
of introduction to the most distinguished for talent and
station, and prepared a reception for me everywhere,
which I had not anticipated, being unconscious at the
time of the effects of their influence upon these parties
whom I had been trained and educated by my previous
antecedents to think so very much my superiors. It was
only after a long experience of this kind of reception
from the highest in rank, station, and elevation of mind,
that I became fully conscious of the undying effects
which they had produced. These continued results
tended to confirm me in the irresistible power of truth,
when unmixed with error and declared openly without
fear of man. But at home the old adage was confirmed,
that " a prophet has no honour in his own country."

15

226 THE LIFE OF

From this eventful day to the world, the religious and
party underlings were set to work to counteract by all
their usual means these daring proceedings on the part
of a mere manufacturer of cotton. It was true that I
was deemed, and was often styled about this period, the
prince of cotton-spinners. But what of that ? I was
a mere cotton - spinner, a man of trade, one whose
business was to endeavour to buy cheap and sell dear,
and to take, according to mercantile notions, every
" fair " advantage of the ignorance and weakness of my
fellow- traders. The machinations, secret and open, of
the religious sects in our country now commenced, and
they continued to increase until these parties found they
had done all they could against my name and influence.
And now they are surprised that all they have said and
done has had so little permanent effect upon the reflecting
and superior members of society.

My political opponents were also not idle in their
opposition. But their proceedings were frank and open,
and never unkind or unpleasantly hostile. They were
however numerous and powerful, for they included all
who thought the union of the human race in family
commonwealths impracticable, and who preferred the
individual system, whether the social was or was not
practicable.

But my friends were also alarmed, and many of them
terrified, at what they called my daring temerity, in
direct opposition to the deepest impressions made on
the minds and habits of so large a portion of the popu-
lation of all countries ; and some were ever afterwards
afraid of my society, because of the religious prejudices
which were arising against me.

As a proof of the impression which my declaration at
the last meeting against all the rehgions of the world
had made on the British public, my friend Henry
Brougham, since known as Lord Brougham, and Lord
Chancellor of England, saw me the day after the meeting
walking in the streets of the metropolis, and came to me,
saying — " How the devil, Owen, could you say what
" you did yesterday at your public meeting ! If any of

ROBERT OWEN 227

" us " (meaning the then so-called Liberal party in the
House of Commons) " had said half as much, we should
" have been burned alive, — and here are you quietly
" walking as if nothing had occurred ! "

It is true that at that time no other individual could
have ventured upon this open attack upon all that most
men hold so dear, except at the risk of character, fortune,
and life ; and when I went to the meeting I felt uncertain
whether I should return alive. It was my antecedents
alone which saved me, and my enthusiasm in the cause
which I had espoused alone sustained me through the
trying crisis, and gave me the victory over the prejudices
of the human race. But I never felt more strongly than
at this period, that none of the power which carried me
through these measures with the success which attended
them was of my own creating, and that not the least
merit was in any way due to me.

On calmly recurring to these three addresses, it is now
evident to me, through the experience which time has
given, that the knowledge of the good and superior
Spirit which directed and controlled all my public pro-
ceedings, was at the period when they occurred far in
advance of the age ; but that these proceedings were
then necessary to arouse society' from its then lethargic
state of insanity, inflicted upon all by the repulsive and
absurd religions of the world, and to prepare its popu-
lation gradually to overcome the sevenfold bondage of
prejudice, with which the antedecents of man's existence
upon the earth had enveloped his rational faculties
and reasoning powers. My public proceedings at this
period (1817) were considered to be several hundreds,
some said thousands of years in advance of that period ;
and they were at least fifty years in advance ; for it is
only now, with all my incessant public teaching, that these
inexpressibly important truths to the human race begin
to be understood by the most advanced minds in any
part of the world. How little even yet do the unreflecting
portion of our race (and this is more than ninety-nine in
every hundred) know of the immense — of the in-
calculable difference for human progress and happiness

228 THE LIFE OF

between the repulsive or individual system for governing
the affairs of men and forming their character, and the
attractive or united system ! It is the difference between
heaven and hell upon the earth. The one has amply
succeeded in producing the latter; — the other, when
adopted in practice in its entirety and full purity, will
in high perfection produce the former ; and heaven will
universally reign over the earth to the end of time.
But it was necessary that all the various sufferings of hell
should be experienced in time, and narrated for eternity,
in order that the succeeding everlasting joys of heaven
might be increased and heightened by the contrast.
And thus recorded, will hell, or the sufferings of the past
period of our race, be held in eternal memory, to give
the highest practical enjoyment to all possessing immortal
life. And this is the everlasting good which evil has
been destined to produce ; for without this hell, heaven
could not be comprehended. And thus will arise the
greatest good out of the greatest evil ; and the Supreme
Power of Creation will be justified to the universe. My
earliest thoughtful impressions were, and they have been
published in some of my early Avritings, that the evils
experienced on earth were to serve as a foil or contrast
to increase the happiness of heaven.

The impression made on the foreign mind by the
wide circulation of the new world of ideas for practice, so
openly advocated by me in these ever-to-be-remem.bered
meetings, was such as to bring many foreigners to see
me and the now far-famed New Lanark schools and
establishment. Among the first was Julian de Paris, at
that period well known in France, and remembered
by me from his attentions whenever I afterwards visited
Paris, and also from a little incident which occurred
on his first coming into the village. On that occasion
he inquired for me at the entrance of the works, in which
I was engaged explaining the system and showing the
practice to several distinguished strangers ; and when
we were passing from one part of the works to another,
he came to me and requested to know where he could
find my father, as he was told in the lodge he was in the

ROBERT OWEN 229

mills or schools. I suppose I must then have appeared
in his eyes young for my years ; lor when I jocularly
told him that I and my father were one, he seemed lost
for a moment, and much confused. But he said —
" Are you indeed the Mr. Owen who held those extra-
" ordinary public meetings in London ? " I assured him
it was none other ; and it was some time before he re-
covered from his surprise and regained his self-possession.

Soon after this came Professor Pictet, the celebrated
savant of Geneva, one of the best and most learned men
of his age, and who for his many superior qualities will
be long remembered in Switzerland, especially at Geneva,
and also in Paris, in which city he was a prominent
official character for many years. He came to invite
me to Paris, and to Switzerland and the Continent
generally ; assuring me of a kind and warm reception
from the first men of the day in France, Switzerland,
and Germany. He said that his particular friend Cuvier,
the celebrated French naturalist, and Secretary to the
French Academy in Paris, would come over and meet us
in London, and we could return with him to Paris. He
remained some time with me, and I was greatly pleased
with him, and he appeared to be, as he said he was, highly
gratified with his visit ; taking deep interest in the school
and in the establishment generally ; but especially in
the school ; for he had been for four years one of the four
Commissioners of Education for France, as well as having
been ten years a Tribune of the same country.

We went together to London, where I transacted
much business with my professed disciples, previous to
my intended visit to the Continent, that they might
promote my " new views " in my absence.

I had informed him that I knew nothing of the French
or of any other language than my own. He said that
would make no difference. He would be my constant
companion and interpreter on my journey. And he
knew personally almost all the leading and distinguished
men on the Continent.

I, however, took letters of introduction from the
French and other foreign ministers, and from leading

230 THE LIFE OF

personages ; and his Royal Highness the Duke of Kent,
on being informed by me that I was going to Paris, said
he would give me an introduction to his friend the Duke
of Orleans (afterwards King Louis Philippe), if I desired
to see and converse with him, and which letter I re-
ceived with pleasure. At the time appointed M. Cuvier
arrived, with Madame Cuvier and her daughter, — for
Madame had been previously married, and was a widow
with this one daughter when she was married to M.
Cuvier.

At this period it was intended to make this now most
celebrated savant a minister of state, and he came to
England with a view to make himself acquainted with
our laws and mode of governing. He appeared to be
soon satisfied, for he did not remain long in England.
A French frigate was sent to bring him and his party to
France. M. Cuvier, his lady and daughter, with Pro-
fessor Pictet and myself, made up the whole of the party,
and after landing at Calais, we travelled in the same
carriage to Paris, where we arrived and settled ourselves
to remain some weeks.

I was now immediately introduced into the midst of
the highest learned political men and women of France
and other countries then in Paris.

My first visit was to the Duke of Orleans, to whom
the Duke of Kent's letter gave me a ready and welcome
introduction. The Duke received me more as a friend
than as a stranger, commencing by expressing his high
regard and friendship for his Royal Highness of Kent and
Strathern, and then entering familiarly into a narrative,
confidential at that period, of the delicate position which
he held in relation to the other and then reigning branch
of the Bourbon family.

At this period the political state of parties in France
was peculiar. The Bourbons reigned by the external
powers of Europe, but France was Buonapartist, and a
truce appeared to have taken place between the parties,
for at the time of my visit the leading men of both
were upon friendly terms. But the Duke said — " The
" reigning family are jealous of me. They are afraid

ROBERT OWEN 231

" of my liberal principles. I am watched, and I feel it
" necessary to be guarded in my private and public
" conduct. I therefore live very quietly, and take no
" active part in any of the movements -of the day. But
" I observe all that takes place, and the day may come
" when I may have more liberty to act according to my
" views of the necessities of the times." He was at this
time a thoughtful, watchful character, and rather timid
than otherwise. My views were too well known, he
said, to allow him openly to appear to countenance me ;
and all my movements would be known whilst in France.
My friend and companion Professor Pictet was not then
with me, for the Duke spoke English well and most
fluently, and our interview was most private. It con-
tmued for upwards of an hour ; but afterwards I had no
personal communication with him during my then stay
in Paris.

The next day the Professor proposed that we should
visit the Prime Minister, to whom I was introduced by
the Professor, and I presented my letter from the French
Ambassador in London. We were cordially received,
and had a long and by degrees a frank and friendly
interview, — the Minister expressing his high admiration
of my practical measures at New Lanark, of which he had
heard many accounts from several parties who had wit-
nessed them, all of whom were lavish in their praises of
what they had seen. And he said he was deeply interested
as a statesman in my late public proceedings in London,
which, he added, were he was sure too profound and
too advanced for immediate adoption. But he said they
were true, and would be, after many conflicts, ultimately
universally adopted, and would become the practice
of the world. The Minister seemed much disinclined to
terminate the interview, which continued an uiiusual
length of time, and when we departed he came with us
through three apartments en suite connected with his
own most private reception room. Not being yet in-
itiated in the customs and forms of courts and courtiers,
I thought nothing of this, but supposed it to be of
common occurrence ; but upon leaving the house, the

232 THE LIFE OF

Professor said, " I have never seen that done before.
" I have been, during fourteen years' residence in France,
" very often with the chief Minister, and frequently with
" persons of distijiction. On leaving, the Ministers come
" to their own door, and take leave. When they deem
"it necessary to pay more than usual attention, they
"come through the first room and then take leave. If
" they intend to the visitor much respect, they come
" through the two rooms, and then take formal leave.
" But I never before saw the Minister accompany his
" visitors through the three apartments, and attend to
" them as he did to us on this occasion." And in this
manner was the inexperienced cotton-spinner initiated
into the so-called great ways of the great world.

I was next introduced by my friends, Cuvier and Pictet,
to La Place, the wide-world-known astronomer. And
then to Alexander Von Humboldt, who then was in
Paris pursumg his scientific investigations. And we four
— La Place, Cuvier, Pictet, and myself — afterwards often
met at the house of one or other of the two fust, to con-
verse freely upon public affairs interesting to the popu-
lation of all countries. La Place and Cuvier were at the
head of their respective sciences. Professor Pictet was
at the head of the savants of Europe. And I was now
considered by these men as the advanced mind in a prac-
tical knowledge of human nature and the science of
society. It was to me at first most surprising to discover,
in La Place and Cuvier especially, but less so in Pictet,
their childish simplicity on all subjects relative to human
nature and to the science of society. They sought my
society eagerly, to question me on these subjects,
apparently quite new to their studj', they having so
long had their minds fixed on their own respective
sciences, that they had never entered the field of in-
vestigation on these subjects, so familiar to me. While
I had been as far behind in a knowledge of their subjects,
so familiar to them, and which they themselves had ex-
tended, to the gratification of the learned world. They
seemed to have lived to this period in worlds of their
own. For they appeared to be devoid, out of their own

ROBERT OWEN 233

made world, of a knowledge of the common everyday
world. It was a common report at this time that
Professor Cuvier had been, on his return from London,
immediately made one of the Ministers of State ; but
that from some cause or other he remained Minister for
one day only. Probably, if this was true, it was because
governing, especially at that period, was so foreign and
opposed to his own studies and associations of ideas.
M. Alexander Humboldt was less frequently one of our
coterie ; but I never met him without a strong liking and
attraction for the quiet, unobtrusive simplicity of his
manner, and his willingness to impart the valuable know-
ledge which he possessed without any appearance of
ostentation, a knowledge which he had with so much
industry so well acquired. He always seemed to me to
be a full true man, without any of the ordinary failings
of humanity. And I have never met him since without
these impressions of his character being more strongly
confiimed.

Professor Pictet seemed to be much respected by all
parties, and he was on friendly terms with the leaders
of the more liberal views, and especially with those men
who had survived and had passed with credit through
the Revolution, and who were generally respected and
esteemed among the liberal statesmen of the day.

Some of these names I especially remember. One
was Count de Boissy d'Anglas, who, upon my being
introduced to him, received me, to my no little surprise,
with open arms and a salute on each cheek, from a rougher
chin than I had ever so encountered, — for he was the first
man from whom I received such a salute. I found he
was a warm and ardent disciple of mine, — open, frank,
and honest in the avowal of his principles, and in his
adherence to rational liberty.

Another was Camille Jourdain, so well known through
all stages of the Revolution. He appeared (agreeing
with Professor Pictet's statement of him, and they had
been long known to each other) to have been one of the
superior men engaged in that extraordinary struggle for
liberty, a thing so little understood by all the contending

234 THE LIFE OF

parties, and less practised by them when in power.
There were, throughout this dreadful contest, no indi-
cations of a knowledge of human nature, of charity for
humanity, or of wisdom in conduct. It was severe
general suffering, to produce small results.

A third on my memory was the Duke de la Roche-
foucault, who had from patriotic motives established on
his estate in the country, what at that time in France
was considered a large cotton-spinning manufactory. He
wished me to see it, and took me with him into the
country. I examined the whole business as then carried
on at the Duke's risk and with his capital. I found by
this investigation, that I was manufacturing the same
numbers of fineness of yarn or thread, but of much better
quality, at the New Lanark establishment in Scotland,
at fourpence per pound cheaper than the Duke's. One
penny per pound upon the annual produce at that time
at New Lanark, was £8000 sterling — which sum multi-
plied by four, gives a gain upon the same quantity, over
the Duke's, of thirty-two thousand pounds per year.
Evidently therefore the Duke required a high duty on
English (British) cottons to enable him, and all similarly
situated, to proceed. But it was equally evident that
the French people had to pay this duty to their own manu-
facturers, to enable them to continue their w-orks.

I had what was then called the honour of sitting in
the celebrated French Academ}', of which my constant
friend, Cuvier, was secretary.

And thus for six weeks did the Professor and myself
luxuriate amidst the elite of the most distinguished men
then in Paris ; and I lost no opportunity of obtaining
the best thoughts of these superior characters, and here
I discovered for the first time one advantage from not
knowing any other than my native language.

I had continually the highly learned and gifted
Professor Pictet for my companion and interpreter, well
known to all the foremost men in France, from his long
official residence in it, and, liberal as he was, so much
respected for his attainments and high character, that
he was the only person allowed by Napoleon to miport

ROBERT OWEN 235

monthly a box of English publications unopened and duty
free. With such a friend, guide, and interpreter, our
visits were always to men and women of high standing
for some eminent qualities, and our conversations were
therefore always on the investigation of some important
knowledge, worth the trouble and time of interpreting.
And, from one cause or another, I was made during
this period, through the Professor's means and others,
the lion of Paris. Knowing the defects of early edu-
cation, the little instruction I had received from others,
the little I really knew of the mind, habits, and manners
of the great world, and being then and for a long time
afterwards unconscious of the deep and widespread
impressions which had been made by my publications
on the formation of character, my practical measures, so
long pursued at New Lanark, and latterly my public
meetings and proceedings in London — I was continually
at a loss to account for the extraordinary deference and
attention which was paid to me by all these parties.
But so it was.

After this effective sojourn of six weeks in Paris under
these favourable circumstances, adding greatly to my
experience of the learned and great world, the Professor
and myself, joined before setting out by my sisters-in-
law, proceeded towards the Professor's native country
and his home in Geneva. Our journey was one of every-
day pleasure. In the course of it two events occurred
to add to my experience, and which made an impression
on my memory, although they were of a light nature.

On crossing the Jura, the weather being warm and
pleasant, we walked much to enjoy the pure air and
grand scenery before and around us, and the carriage
slowly followed us at some distance. The Professor and
myself were cosily engaged in some interesting dis-
cussion, walking slowly, my sisters walking on at some
distance in advance of us. They were dressed in the
English fashion of the time, and they passed an ordinary
house, at which were standing at the door three or four
young women well dressed in their fashion. We were so
much behind, and being dressed as travellers usually

236 THE LIFE OF

were who passed that way, we did not appear to these
natives to belong to the ladies who had just passed by
them, and they were making merry with the strange
dresses and appearance of the strangers, and the Professor
heard them say — ' ' Did you ever see such frightful dresses ?
" How could people think of wearing them ! " I think
my sisters on that occasion wore riding habits and hats,
expecting to ride some part of the day on mules. We
passed on, and soon joined our advanced party, and the
first thing my sisters said was — " Did you ever see such
" frights ? How could any people so disfigure them-
" selves ? " My sisters-in-law were at this time young
travellers in a foreign country, and had not yet been in
Switzerland, to see, to them, the still greater variety
of strange costumes. " Yes," I rephed, " we saw them,
" and heard their strongly expressed surprise at the
" frights who had just passed, and they making merry
" with the strange figures you had made yourselves."
This was a lesson which they never afterwards forgot.

Shortly after this occurrence, and when we had walked
until we had made ourselves very warm, we had to cross
a cold, clear running stream, at which the Professor took
out a pocket-handkerchief, dipped it in the stream, and
while it was saturated with water, put one corner of it
into his mouth and then threw it over his fine bald head.
I exclaimed — " Professor ! what are you doing ? You
" will give yourself a death cold ! " He smiled, and said,
" I am experienced in these matters. Although very
" cold water is dangerous taken internally when thus
" heated, it is most refreshing when applied on the out-
" side and on the head as you now see, and it carries off
" the extra heat in the most agreeable manner." And
so I discovered it was in his case ; for at every stream we
passed he repeated the same operation and appeared
indeed to be greatly relieved by it from the effects of heat
during the remainder of the day's journey.

Our first view of Mont Blanc before we entered
Switzerland made a deep and lasting impression upon
those of the party who had not before seen it. The
atmosphere was most favourable for seeing it to the

ROBERT OWEN 237

greatest advantage in its most magnificent beauty, with
tints as various as the rainbow. Tlie Professor, who had
passed and repassed the point of view very often, said
he had never seen it to greater advantage. We there-
fore entered this country of endless magnificent and
beautiful scenery, with favourable prepossessions, and
were during our stay never disappointed.

On our arrival at Geneva we found that the Professor
had arranged to make everything most convenient for
our comfort. He had residing with him his daughter,
Madame Prevost, a charming, highly gifted woman, just
such as it was natural to suppose that the beloved
daughter of the Professor, brought up under his im-
mediate tuition, would be. I say beloved, — because it
was delightful to witness the affection which was most
evident in every look and word between them.

I was gradually introduced to all the elite in and around
Geneva. The brother of the Professor was the celebrated
statesman of Geneva, who negotiated on the part of
Switzerland, and obtained advantages and privileges
which were deemed important, when the congress of
sovereigns met in 1818 at Aix-la-Chapelle. Among
many others, I was also introduced during this visit to
Madame Necker, the sister of Madame de Stael, the
celebrated opponent of Napoleon I. Madame Necker
was the widow of M. Necker, the well-known Minister
in France, and she was esteemed superior in many
respects to her better-known sister. She was on the
most friendly terms with the Professor's family, was
often of our party, and we as frequently with her, for
her society was always interesting and highly instructive
and suggestive.

The Professor had made my New View of Society
very popular at Geneva, and they were always the
favourite topic of conversation with Madame Necker
and the Professor's daughter, who were never tired of
pursuing it through all its ramifications, to its beautiful
results, ending in the practice of the Millennium over the
Earth, and the cordial union of the race as one superior
and highly enlightened family.

238 THE LIFE OF

At this time Captain Hall, the well-known visitor to
Napoleon at St. Helena, arrived at Geneva, lull of the,
to him, important event of twenty minutes' conversation
with so great a personage. He had made a narrative
of this visit, so minute, and worked up with so much
dramatic effect, that upon every occasion when we met
him in different parties he occupied about two hours in
giving the details, and as they were given each time pretty
much in the same order, and often in the same words and
phrases, the two ladies mentioned were, after they had
once heard it, especially annoyed. The Captain's mind
was one of detail, and he evidently attached the greatest
importance to this, to him, wonderful event, while the
minds of these ladies were in search of principles which
could be applied in practice permanently to benefit
humanity.

I could not help observing on these occasions how
little a mind of detail comprehends the mind formed
and accustomed to generalization. The first compre-
hends little of the associations of ideas in the mind of the
latter ; while the latter often undervalues the utility in
practice of the first. In many cases where these qualities
are unmixed, one being wholly accustomed to details,
and the other to generalize, the parties cannot imder-
stand each other. In this case Captain Hall had no
interest in those subjects which were thought to be so
important by some of his impatient listeners.

I now took my sisters-in-law to see the most prominent
scenes of nature's beauty in these Cantons, so full of
such scenes, and which have been so often described as
to be familiar to every reader and continental traveller.
While on this excursion, stopping at a hotel about mid-
way up the shore of the lake of Geneva, we were met by
my old and greatly respected friend, Mr. Joseph Strutt
of Derby, with his two daughters. Thus meeting, we
agreed to prolong our stay there another day beyond our
previous intention. I had promised a morning visit the
next day to Mademoiselle de Stael, the daughter of the
celebrated authoress, and afterwards the wife of the Duke
de Broglie. We therefore arranged to dine on my return

ROBERT OWEN 239

at three o'clock, and I left my sisters and our friend to
enjoy themselves in that beautiful situation in their own
way, while I went early to Copet, the seat of the re-
nowned Madame de Stael, who had but lately died,
leaving her only daughter to lament this great bereave-
ment.

On my arrival I found among other visitors Monsieur
Sismondi, and entering at once into a conversation
mutually interesting, time was unnoticed, until I
recollected my engagement to return and dine with my
friends the Strutts and my sisters-in-law at the hotel,
eight miles distant, at three o'clock, — when, taking out
my watch, I discovered it was five o'clock, and I did not
arrive at the hotel until six. But my friend very kindly
excused my oversight under the circumstances in which
I was placed. I met the same friend some weeks after-
wards at Frankfort, when we remained in the same hotel,
— and I just now recollect that one day while Mr. Strutt
and myself were sitting after dinner there, it occurred to
us that it might be possible perhaps, it being a superior
hotel, for us to obtain a bottle of the genuine old hock,
grown upon Prince Metternich's estate. Calling in the
hotel-keeper, we asked if such a matter was practicable.
He said — " I could obtain but six bottles of a particularly
" good vintage, — it being divided among many, — and I
" will with pleasure " (I believe we had become favourites
with the landlord) " let you have one bottle. But the
" price is high." " We will give your own price, and
" shall be obliged in addition." The bottle was brought,
and certainly, in the estimation of Mr. Strutt and myself,
it was the most delicious wine we had ever drunk. Its
price was ten f ranee.

When my sisters had seen all they desired to see in
Switzerland, they left me to pass over into Italy, and I
rejoined the Professor, after first paying a visit to my
partner, Mr. John Walker of Arno's Grove, Middlesex,
and his family, who had taken up their residence for
some time on the banks of the lake of^Lucerne. While
remaining with thsm, I went with two of his sons to the
top of Mount Rigi, and we arrived there in time to

240 THE LIFE OF

see that splendid sight, the sun rising, in a morning most
favourable for seeing it to great advantage, displaying
gradually all the beauties of that enchanting distant
mountain and lake prospect, including parts of nearly
all the Cantons.

Of Mr. John Walker, just mentioned, I shall have
occasion to speak in a future portion of these
memoirs.

On my return to Professor Pictet's at Geneva, we first
made a visit to the three then most noted schools for the
poor in Switzerland. The first was Father Oberlin's, a
Catholic school conducted in a truly Catholic spirit by
the good father of the Church, and with as little sectarian
spirit in his proceedings as was practicable 'while he
remained a member of his sect. This was a large school,
well filled with the poorer class of children, well con-
ducted on charitable principles, according to the old
mode of teaching ; but it was quite evident that the
heart of this good man was in it, and he had laboured
hard and long to bring it to the state in which it was
when I visited him at Friburgh, where the school was
situated. This excellent man when informed by
Professor Pictet of my school and establishment which he
had seen and so frequently examined, became greatly
interested to know how I obtained such extraordinary
results, and became anxious to learn how to obtain them
as I had done. His school consisted of boys of the
usual age at which boys were sent at this time to school.
I told him the plan which I pursued was a very simple
one, and was obtained by a close and accurate study of
human nature, not from books (for these were very
generally worse than useless), but frcnn the infant, child,
youth, and man, as formed under a false fundamental
principle, as was evident by the entire past history of
the human race. To form the most superior character
for the human race, the training and education should
commence from the birth of the child ; and to form a
good character they must begin systematically when the
child is one year old. But much has been done rightly
or wrongly before that period. From that age no child

ROBERT OWEN 241

should be brought up isolated. Every child should now
be placed in the first division of a school for infants of
from one to three years of age, and from thirty to fifty
in number, — the latter number easily to be superintended
by a properly chosen female, — instead of, as at present,
one or two or three infants of such age being thoroughly
spoiled by the attendance upon them of young persons
wholly ignorant of human nature. In this first division
the foundation of a good and rational character may be
easily laid, by attending to the formation of every habit,
to their manner, their disposition, and their conduct to
each other ; and in this respect I gave them but one rule
or lesson for practice, and that was, from their entrance
into the school, to endeavour to make each other very
happy. And it is surprising how soon and how effectually
this practice is acquired under a superintendent possessmg
the required unceasing love for children, and who has
been properly instructed before commencing the task.
These children, to be well trained and educated, should
never hear from their teacher an angry word, or see a
cross or threatening expression of countenance. The
tone of voice and manner should be, impartially to them
all, kind and affectionate. They should be out of doors
in good air at play, as much as the weather and their
strength will admit. When beginning to be tired of
play in their playground, they should be taken within
the schoolroom, and amused by^the teacher, by showing
; and explaining to them some useful object within their
capacity to comprehend, — and a young, active, well-
taught teacher will easily find and provide something
that they will be interested in seeing and in hearing it
I explained. While awake they should be actively occu-
I pied either at this amusement or at play, and thirty to
nfty infants, when left to themselves, will always amuse
each other without any useless childish toys. In our
rational infant school in New Lanark, a mere child's toy
was not seen for upwards of twenty years. When,
however, any infant felt inclined to sleep, it should be
quietly allowed to do so.

Punishment, in a rationally conducted infant school
16

242 THE LIFE OF

will never be required, and should be avoided as much
as giving poison in their food.

The second division, from three to six, should continue
to be treated in the same manner, except that their walks
into the country should be frequent, and the objects
brought to them for examination and explanation
should be advanced in interest in proportion to the
previous acquirements of the children, and to their age
for better understanding them.

Books in infant schools are worse than useless. But at
six, so trained and educated, a solid foundation will
have been formed for good habits, manners, disposition,
and conduct to others, and, so far, a consistent and
rational mind v/ill be given, varying in many particulars
in different individuals, but all good and natural,
according to their respective organizations.

No marks of merit or demerit should be given to any ,
no partiality shown to any one. But attention to each
should be increased in proportion to natural defects or
deficiency of any kind, physical or mental. ' I see by
" your school," I continued, " that it is after this age
" that you, like other masters of schools, receive your
" pupils. But to a great extent the character is made
" or marred before children enter the usual schoolroom."

The good father, feeling the truth of what I had stated,
was yet anxious for more of my experience in forming
character, and more anxious from the too favourable
accounts which the Professor had given of what he had
so often witnessed at New Lanark during his visits to
me. I therefore proceeded, and stated that infants so
treated, trained, and educated from one year of age,
would at six compare without disadvantage, in mind,
manner, and conduct, with young persons as usually
treated, trained, and educated with books, at ten and
twelve years of age, or even yet older. And I advised
him to add, if practicable under his circumstances, such
an infant school to his present one. But he said — " I
" have no means ; and it is with great difficulty I can
" procure funds to maintain what I have, and to do so
" has cost me many sleepless nights." On leaving him

ROBERT OWEN 243

i said — " You are making great exertions to obtain,
" under the system in which I see you must act, but
" limited and very partial results."

The great earnestness and benevolence of this in-
dustrious poor cure of the Catholic Church, labouring
under many disadv^antages, interested me very much.

He said he was most at a loss to know how I had
succeeded in avoiding punishment altogether in the
New Lanark schools. I told him the secret was in the
first division of the infant school, from one to three, in
which school the affections of the children were secured
to their instructors ; and that when their affections are
obtained, the children will always with pleasure to them-
selves exert their natural powers to their utmost extent.
This result is most easily obtained by commencing the
formation of character from one year of age, with num-
bers about the same age united. ; When human nature
shall be understood by the public, the advantages of this
early formation of character will be duly appreciated, and
every child when a year old will be placed in a rational
infant boarding school.

This good benevolent man eagerly inquired if there
were any such infant boarding schools, — for I told him
that mine were day schools only, and were in consequence
imperfect for the formation of the best character which
could be formed ; but that society was not yet so far
advanced as to admit of the best character being formed.
This, I told him, could be obtained only under an entire
change of society in spirit, principle, and practice. He
said — " Do you think that change can ever be effected ? "
I replied that my settled conviction was that it could ;
that I saw all the steps in practice by which the change
could be made in peace and most advantageously for
every individual, of every class and rank, over the
world ; and that T should never cease my efforts to
forward this change as long as life and health would
admit. " But," he said, " you will be opposed by all
" religions and Governments, and by the people whom
" they govern, and whose educated ])rejudices in favour
" of existing practices will be a difficulty insurmountable

244 THE LIFE OF

" in your way." " So I am told," I answered, " by men
" of all parties. But my "knowledge of human nature
" leads me to know that conviction does not depend upon
" the will of the individual ; but that it depends upon the
' ' strongest impression which can be made upon his
" mind ; and I hope by degrees to create new impressions
" upon the most advanced minds, and that they will
" gradually make similar impressions upon the general
" public mind."

" You must have great faith in the truth of your prin-
' ' ciples, to resolve upon such a course of conduct, against
" such obstacles as you must meet by the way. I,
" however, wish you all the success you desire, without
" much expectation that it is possible for any one to
" overcome the prejudices and apparent interests to be
" encountered from all sects and parties in all countries."

Thus we concluded our visit to the first Swiss poor
school which I had seen.

Our next visit was to Yverdmi, to see the advance
made by Pestalozzi — another good and benevolent man,
acting for the benefit of his poor children to the extent
of his knowledge and means. He was doing, he said,
all he could to cultivate the heart, the head, and the
hands of his pupils. His theory was good, but his
means and experience were very limited, and his prin-
ciples were those of the old system. His language was a
confused patois, which Professor Pictet could but im-
perfectly understand. His goodness of heart and bene-
volence of intention were evident in what he had done
under the disadvantages which he had to encounter.
His school, however, was one step in advance of ordinary
schools, or the old routine schools for the poor in common
society, and we were pleased with it as being this one
step in advance, for the rudiments of common school
education for the poor, without attention to their dis-
positions and habits, and without teaching them useful
occupation, by which to earn a living, are of little real
utility. We left him, being much pleased with the
honest homely simplicity of the old man. His one step
beyond the usual routine had attracted and was attract-

ROBERT OWEN 245

ing the attention of many who had previously known
only the common routine.

Professor Pictet now said he would take me to a former
partner of Pestalozzi, but a man very superior to him in
talent and attainments, who had also a poor school, and
another for pupils of the more wealthy and of the upper
classes, even sons of princes. We therefore went to
Hofwyl, and I was introduced by M. Pictet to M. de
Fellenberg, in such a manner as to induce him to open
his house and his heart to me, so as to make us very
speedily acquainted with each other's views, and to
I place me at once at ease and at home with him. Here
the Professor and I remained partaking of M. de Fellen-
! berg's hospitality for three days, — the Professor and
■j M. de Fellenberg being previously old and much attached
friends. I found M. de Fellenberg a man of no ordinary
mould, — possessing rare administrative talent, and a
good knowledge of human nature as formed under the
existing system of society, but alive to its many errors
and defects. After minutely inspecting his admirably
conducted school of instruction and labour for the poor,
under the immediate care of M. Verdi, and the schools
of the upper class, with the improved cultivation which
he had introduced on his estate around the establish-
ment,— all of which we found in order, and the schools
two or three steps in advance of any I had yet seen in
England or on the Continent, — we spent the remainder
of the three days in considering what could be done to
bring society out of its present delusion and error.

The Professor and M. de Fellenberg had both minds
far in advance of things as they were, and were quite
willing to proceed onward as fast and as far as their
surroundings would permit them to proceed. They were
in each other's confidence. The Professor had become
a true convert to my views, and before the third day of
our stay, M. de Fellenberg also became a disciple of the
" new views." We then considered how far the Hofwyl
establishment could be made to assist to prepare the
way for the entire change which I contemplated. M. de
Fellenberg had pupils of high rank from Russia and from

246 THE LIFE OF

various parts of Germany. But his known strong in-
clination to liberal, not to say democratic principles, had
created in the neighbouring despotic powers a suspicion
that he might go too far in instilling these advanced
liberal views into the minds and habits of his pupils.
His school had been therefore placed under the sur-
veillance of three commissioners, of German, Prussian,
and Russian appointment, and their examinations of the
schools were quarterly or half-yearly. One of these
examinations took place while we were there, but it did
not occupy much time, it being known to the Professor
andM.de Fellenberg that the commissioners were friendly
to them both. But there was indeed nothing that intelli-
gent men could reasonably object to.

The Professor explained to M. de Fellenberg the extra-
ordinary results, as he considered them, which were pro-
duced in the new infant school at New Lanark ; and in
our conversation on this subject I strongly recommended
him to commence an infant school in his establishment.
At this time he had no boys in his school under ten years
of age. He had never before heard of a rational infant
school ; but he greatly approved of the principles and
practices of it, as they were explained to him by the
Professor and myself ; and he seemed much inclined to
introduce one into his establishment, if he could make
the necessary arrangements for one to unite harmoniously
with the general arrangements now in practice and in
progress. I learned afterwards that to add such a
nursery as would be necessary in the situation, as well as
to build suitable infant schools with playground, would
too much derange his domestic and other arrangements,
to permit him without great inconvenience and a large
addition to his capital,which could not be easily obtained,
to add properly constructed accommodations for this
purpose, and that he rightly judged that it was better not
to commence, unless he could do justice to the system;
and he had at this time as much upon his hands as any
one man could direct with the superior success which he
desired, and with his limited capital.

My two eldest sons, Robert Dole and William, were

ROBERT OWEN 247

now. the first sixteen, and the second fourteen years of
age. They had received as good a private training and
education as could be given to them by the aid of well-
selected governesses and tutors, and their characters
and habits, })hysical and mental, had been so far formed
on rational principles, that I had no fears to send them
from home to acquire foreign languages, and yet further
to pursue useful studies, and to become more prac-
tically acquainted with the ways of men in the old world,
— so different in many respects to the half new world
in which alone to this time they had been trained and
so far educated.

Knowing by experience the importance of the sur-
roundings in which all parties, but especially the young,
are placed, I looked everywhere for the best in which to
place my sons, to complete their training and education.
I had seen nothing to equal the existing and projected
arrangements or surroundings at this establishment ;
and on consulting with the Professor, he approved of
my intention to propose to M. de Fellenberg to receive
my two sons. There then had never been an English
boy among his pupils, and he said he should have
peculiar pleasure in receiving my two sons, as they had
had a previous training and education at New Lanark.
The terms were high, but not more than the superior
house and school arrangements made necessary for the
support of the pupils. I agreed to send my sons and
place them under M. de Fellenberg's especial care and
direction. I have ever remembered this visit with un-
mixed pleasure, from the gratification I experienced in
the friendly, frank, confidential communication of mind
to mind on all subjects, enhanced by the mutual con-
fidence each had in the other.

When the Professor and I were with my partner, Mr.
John Walker, it was arranged, — as I intended to visit
Frankfort, and to be at Aix-la-Chapclle during the
Congress of Sovereigns speedily to be held there, and as
Professor Pictet had been my travelling companion and
interpreter for sevieral months, — that Mr. Walker, who
most kindly wished to promote my views, which I was

248 THE LIFE OF

going to promulgate in Frankfort and Aix-la-Chapelle,
should take the place of the Professor, and should assist
me in Germany, as the Professor had aided me in France
and Switzerland ; and that I should return to the Pro-
fessor on my way homeward. I very reluctantly parted
from a friend who had been so kindly attentive and so
essentially serviceable to me, with the peculiar views
which I entertained, and in which he so thorouglily
united, that wherever we went he tried to anticipate my
wishes. But a more willing, amiable, and accomplished
successor could scarcely be imagined, than the one I was
so fortunate as to meet with in my friend and partner
Mr. John Walker, with whom I had previously spent
many a happy day at his residence, Arno's Grove,
Southgate, Middlesex, where an occurrence took place
which was deeply impressed on my memory, and the
relation of which, with previous explanations, may here-
after be useful to many.

Mr. Walker was born of very wealthy parents of the
Society of Friends, and by them was carefully trained as
such until he was twelve years of age. At that age a
highly gifted artistic and scientific gentleman, not of
the society, but upon very friendly terms with the family,
observing the superior and teachable qualities of his
young friend, as he called him, pressed the parents to
permit him to take their son to Rome, to which city he
was going, and where he intended to remain to study
the arts and sciences, and, seeing that young John had a
strong natural taste for both, he would, if they would
permit him to go with him, give him every advantage
that Rome could offer to promote his progress in all his
studies. The parents consented, and the pupil re-
mained many years with his mentor, during which he
made extraordinary progress in all the arts and sciences,
for, with great natural abilities, continued study was his
delight, and while he was progressing it was a constant
source of happiness to him. How long he remained in
Rome, and afterwards traveUing to acquire additional
knowledge with his experienced, accomphshed friend, I
do not recollect, but it was a long period. He told nie

ROBERT OWEN 249

that during his staj' the impression made upon his youth-
ful mind by the extraordinary splendour and getting up
of high mass, to engage the feehngs of the inexperienced,
were so overpowering to the senses, that he was on one
of these occasions nearly tempted to become a Catholic,
and but just escaped by the advice of his friend from openly
declaring himself to be a convert. He said that always
afterwards, whenever the moments of his dehrium, as he
called it, recurred to him, it was a source of the highest
satisfaction to him that he then escaped the delusion.
Such however were the attainments which he acquired
under the direction of this accomplished and experienced
mentor, that on his return to England he was readily
elected member of the Royal Society ; but such was his
natural retiring timidity, that only confidential friends
living with him under his own most hospitable roof had
any idea of his varied great acquirements. His fortune
was ample, — he had married a lady in all ways most
suitable to him, — and their esteem and affection for each
other were ever evident through every day's proceeding.
When I first knew them, on Mr. Walker's becoming my
partner with others in the New Lanark Establishment,
his country house was Arno's Grove, purchased by him
from Lord Newman, as far as I remember, and his town
house was 49 Bedford Square, which he allowed me to
occupy as my home when my public proceedings de-
tained me in London, making occasional visits to Arno's
Grove when the family were absent from London.

He had at this time a large family of fine well-grown
and highly educated sons and daughters ; he had
carriages and horses in the best condition, an extensive
and well-selected library in his town and in his country
residence, a rare and very expensive museum of choice
specimens of nature in every department, and at
Arno's Grove a more extensive and select arrangement
of exotic plants from all climates than could be found in
any private establishment at that time in the kingdom, —
having one hundred and fifty acres chiefly in pleasure
rounds around his house.

Knowing all these particulars, and that he had an

250 THE LIFE OF

ample fortune to establish all his children in various
professions and in wealthy and successful mercantile
or manufacturing establishments (being decided, as he
informed me, that all should have some occupation), I
had a question on my mind to ask him while on one of my
visits to him at Arno's Grove, to ascertain whether what
I considered to be a universal fact had any exception.
From reflecting upon the false base on which the human-
made character of all through past generations to the
present had been formed, and on which society in all
its varieties over the world had been and was to this
day constructed, — I had been compelled to believe that
character so formed and society so constructed could not
produce one happy man or woman, without some draw-
back or cause of unhappiness. But in Mr. Walker's case
I could not discover any private cause of unhappiness,
and I was in consequence most desirous to be informed
as to this fact.

Walking one day alone with him in his oak wood, at
some distance from the house, while in an interesting
conversation (for all his conversations were highly in-
teresting and instructive) upon the inconsistencies of
society and the miseries which it created, I said —
" My impressions are, and have been for a considerable
" time, that society falsely based as it ever has been
" could not create one truly happy man or woman,
" except in some cases from unconscious ignorance, when
" all the animal wants of our nature are satisfied ; but
" since I have become so well acquainted with you, your
" surroundings and your history, I think I have dis-
" covered one who is intelhgent and is yet, in all his
" private and individual relations, not only without
" cause of unhappiness, but in the actual possession of
" uninterruption of rational enjoyment."

I then asked the question whether I was correct or
not, for information on the subject which so much
occupied my thoughts — the renovation of society by an
entire change of system from its base, in prmciple, spirit,
and practice.

He said — " I am conscious of your motives," and with

ROBERT OWEN 251

the most natural simplicity and feeling in his manner
he added — " I am not happy." I had enumerated to
him the many superior surroundings, of family, fortune,
and position, wliich he possessed, and his numerous
sources of intellectual enjoyment, and that I could
discover nothing left for him to wish for, all his family
being at this time in strong health. In continuation he
said — " All this is true ; and with respect to these
" surroundings I have nothing more to wish for ; but
" yet I am not happy."

"May I, without intruding upon private or family
" feehngs, ask the cause?" He replied — "To one so
" well acquainted with human nature as you are, I
" willingly answer your question. My parents were
" very wealthy ; they had but myself and a sister to
" provide for ; my fortune was therefore ample beyond
" my means of lavish expenditure in pursuit of know-
" ledge in every direction, and subsequently for the
" highest comfort of my family ; and the confidential
" union between us is, as you have now so often wit-
" nessed, complete. But now that all these things have
" been attained in a superior and most satisfactory
" manner, nothing being deficient that wealth can
" give, I feel daily the necessity of some regular occu-
" pation, to call daily for active exertion, and to
" force me, as it were, into physical and mental
"activity."

I said — " 1 can readily comprehend the want you feel,
" and am satisfied that it is a law of nature that happiness
" is unattainable through life except our physical and
" mental powers are daily exercised to the point of
" temperance."

" It is," he said, " from my own experience in this
" matter, that I seek employment for all my sons, that
" they may not be subjected later in life to the want of
" daily occupation."

Such was the man who volunteered to be my com-
panion and interpreter in Germany.

We at once proceeded to Frankfort, where we remained
until the meeting of the Congress of Sovereigns at Aix-

252 THE LIFE OF

la-Chapelle to which I intended to present memorials
on the present state and future prospects of society.

I wrote at Frankfort the two memorials which I in-
tended to present, and had them printed for private cir-
culation previous to the meeting of Congress, and they
were printed in English, French, and German, in the
same pamphlet.

The Germanic Diet was now sitting in Frankfort, and
was attended at this time by the representatives of
twenty-two different governments. My letters intro-
duced me to all the prominent learned and political
characters now in the city, and it was crowded with
strangers expecting the arrival of the Sovereigns and
their Ambassadorial attendants from man}^ courts.
But I had also, from my friend the late celebrated
Nathan Rothschild, an especial letter to the late well-
known Frankfort banker, the friend and host of the
Emperor Alexander of Russia, M. Bethman, to whom I
was much indebted for many attentions while I remained
in that city.

The secretary to the Congress of Sovereigns had
arrived to wait the coming of the Emperors, Kings,
etc., etc. He was the well-known politician M. Gentz,
learned in all the policy of the leading despots of Europe,
and in their full confidence, and therefore he had been
appointed by them for this office of high trust and
position.

M. Bethman and the members of the Germanic Diet
were, as I afterwards discovered, desirous to hear what
could be said by this celebrated politician, the secretary
to the Congress of Sovereigns, in favour of the old system
of society, in opposition to what I had to say in advocat-
ing the new system, which it was now known was the
object of my visit to Frankfort.

To bring about a discussion between us, M. Bethman
had arranged to give a sumptuous dinner or banquet to
all the members of the Diet, and to invite the secretary
and myself. The secretary, no doubt, was in the secret
of this arrangement, but I had not the least suspicion
of it. The dinner was the most superb and complete

ROBERT OWEN 253

in all its qualities and accompaniments of any I had
ever partaken of. My own habits having through life
been very temperate and simple, in conformity with the
laws of health, I could not avoid perceiving in this mode
of life the causes of many diseases and of premature
death. It would be a useful lesson to know how many
who sat with me at that table are now living.

When dinner was over, the conversation was soon so
directed as to engage the secretary and myself in a
regalar discussion, to which the others were attentive
listeners, and in which they were apparently much
interested.

As the discussion proceeded from one point to another,
I stated that now, through the progress of science, the
means amply existed in all countries, or might easily be
made to exist on the principle of union for the foundation
of society, instead of its present foundation of disunion,
to saturate society at all times with wealth, sufficient to
amply supply the wants of all through life. What was
my surprise to hear the reply of the learned secretary !
" Yes," he said, and apparently speaking for the
governments, " we know that very well ; but we do
" not want the mass to become wealthy and inde-
" pendent of us. How could we govern them if they
" were ? "

This short speech opened my eyes at once to the
impracticability of the present system of society in
Europe being maintained under a rational system of
education and employment for the people. They would
soon become too wise, too wealthy, and too powerful,
to be so irrationally treated, trained, educated, employed,
governed, and placed, as they are now under every form
of government in practice. And it should be now uni-
versally and most emphatically made known to the
population of the v/orld, that if it were treated, trained,
educated, employed, and placed, in accordance with the
most plain dictates of common sense, crimes would
terminate, the miseries of humanity would cease,
wealth and wisdom would be universal, and man would
everywhere become a peaceable superior animal in all

254 THE LIFE OF

his animal nature, and yet more superior in his
intellectual, moral, spiritual and united practical
nature.

After this confession by the secretary, the discussion
lost much of its interest in my mind ; for I had dis-
covered that I had a long and arduous task before me, to
convince governments and governed of the gross ignor-
ance under which they were contending against each
other, in direct opposition to the real interests and true
happiness of both. I now foresaw that the prejudices
which I had to overcome in all classes in all countries
were of the most formidable character, and that, in
addition to illimitable patience and perseverance, it
would require the wisdom said to be possessed by the
serpent, with the harmlessness of the dove, and the
courage of the lion.

I had passed the rubicon, and was strongly impressed
to proceed onward in a straight course, without turning
to the right or to the left until the great object of my life
was attained, or to die in pursuing the attempt. Having
written the memorials which I intended to present to
the Congress of Sovereigns, being on friendly terms
with many of the diplomatic persons at this eventful
period in Frankfort, I was visited one day by the
Russian Ambassador, a German, and a fine, open-hearted,
frank character by nature, and thus friendly when not
engaged in diplomatic discussions with diplomatists. I
had the intended memorials in MSS. preparing for the
printer, and I read them to him, that I might have the
benefit of his opinion respecting them. When he heard
me read — " That I was not influenced in these proceed-
'' ings by considerations of wealth, privileges, or honours,
" for these already appear to me as the playthings of
" infants," — he suddenly started back, expressing great
emotion and surprise. I said, " I see you think the
" words you have read are too strong for sovereigns."
" Oh no ! " he replied, " I am too delighted to hear them ;
" for that is the only way to make any useful impression
" on such kind of fellows." He spoke English well, but
I do not know whether he understood our meaning when

ROBERT OWEN 255

he applied the term " fellows " to Emperors, Kings,
etc., etc., etc.

Another kind-hearted person was then connected with
the Russian Embassy, waiting the arrival of the Emperor
Alexander. This was Baron de Krudener, son of the
celebrated Madame de Krudener, the spiritualist, living
in Switzerland, whom the Emperor used to visit and
consult through spiritual agencies respecting his mun-
dane proceedings.

This young man became much attached to me, and
gave me as much useful information respecting passing
events as he knew or could collect for me, keeping me
well posted up as to the arrivals of the many great
personages who were daily coming from all parts of Ger-
many to pay their respects to the Emperor, his sovereign.

He informed me that the Prince of Thurn und Taxis
had arrived at my hotel, and being a relative of the
Emperor, visits would immediately be exchanged between
them. The Prince went to pay his respects to the Em-
peror, and had not long returned before the Emperor
came to return the visit. He was met on entering the
public entrance leading to the Prince's suite of apart-
ments, and I witnessed their meeting, which appeared to
be most friendly and cordial. The Emperor remained
with the Prince about twenty minutes.

I had in the meantime provided myself with a copy of
my memorials, intending to present them to the Emperor
as he returned from his visit to the Prince. I offered
them to him, but his dress fitted so tightly to his person,
that, having no pockets, "he had no place in which he
could put so large a packet. He was evidently annoyed
by the circumstance, and said, as I thought angrily,
" I cannot receive it — I have no place to put it in.
" Who are you ? " " Robert Owen," was my reply.
" Come to me in the evening at Mr. Bethman's," — and
he passed on.

I did not like his manner of speaking to me, and did
not go ; which I afterwards regretted, for he was naturally
amiable, and as kind-hearted as the surroundings of
despotism would admit ; and I then might have in-

256 THE LIFE OF

tluenced him to some public beneficial purpose, for my
influence among European governing parties was, as I
learned afterwards, far greater than I was conscious
of. But being a true lover of equal rights in the human
race, I never could refrain from firmly repelling in manner
what I deemed unnecessary assumption in any one.

I had previously written a lett^er to the Emperor,
and Count Capo D'Istria, his secretary, was directed to
inform me that the Emperor of Russia was overwhelmed
with engagements during his short stay in Frankfort,
but that he would if possible give me an audience.
I had several interesting interviews with Count Capo
D'Istria, and I found him highly talented, and strongly
inclined to investigate the most advanced liberal prin-
ciples, expressing a strong desire that the time had
arrived when the views which I entertained, and which I
fully explained to him, could be generally adopted in
practice.

I may here remark, that in all my intercourse with the
Ministers of despotic powers, I uniformly found them in
principle favourably disposed to the introduction in
practice of the new system of society, and that they
gave me all the facilities and aid which their position
would admit.

My visit to Frankfort was an important event. It
enlarged my views of the errors of the existing system of
society, and of the thraldom to each other to which
governments and governed were subjected, and how little
both knew of the means by which their liberty of mind
and action were to be obtained. My sympathy for
both governments and people, under every form of
government, was in consequence greatly increased, and
my determination to unfetter both, and by simple truth
to set the nations free, not by force, but by reason, was
yet more strongly increased.

But every step in advance required a deep insight into
the effects produced on the minds of all classes in different
countries by their respective surroundings.

I discovered that I had to oppose the educated pre-
judices and apparent interests of all parties, with the

ROBERT OWEN

257

habits created by the irrational .surroundings emanating
in all countries from the erior on which society from its
commencement had been founded and to this day con-
structed. My mission, then, was to bring forward the
most important truths for man to know, and to bring
them forward in such manner as to create the least angry
excitement practicable, and to make a lasting impression
on the public mind, so as gradually to undermine all
that a system grossly false in principle, repulsive in
spirit, and evil in practice had for so long a period estab-
lished in all nations and among all people. My letters
written from this city to my wife at this period will
explain the feelings with which I pursued the object
which so deeply engaged my thoughts.

As soon as the Sovereigns met I hastened to Aix-la-

Chapelle, and there completed the two memorials to the

i governments of Europe and America. I then applied

' to Lord Castlereagh, the representative, with the Duke

of Wellington, of the British Government at this Congress.

Lord Castlereagh in the most friendly manner promised

! to present these documents to Congress under the most

i favourable circumstances. He did so ; and it was stated

' to me in confidence on my return to Paris, by one of the

i Ministers of the Government, that those two memorials

j were considered the most important documents which

had been presented to the Congress during its sittings.

As soon as I received the assurance from Lord Castle-
reagh that he would take charge of the memorials and
present them at the most favourable period to gain the
attention of the Great Powers then assembled, I left
Aix-la-Chapelle, to return to M. Pictet in Switzerland.
I I should have previously stated that my kind friend,
[Mr. Walker, left me at Frankfort, circumstances having
occurred to make it necessary for him to return to his
family.

On returning to Geneva, I learned there was to be a
neeting of the Swiss National Society of Natural History
:o be held in Lausanne at that period, and that Professor
Pictet, my friend, and so long my companion, was the
^resident. He said all the most eminent men from the

17

258 THE LIFE OF

different Cantons would be present, besides many dis-
tinguished strangers ; and he proposed that I should
accompany him, to which proposal, as one of my objects
of travel was to meet and confidentially converse with
men of mind of every cast of character, I readily con-
sented.

The members, from eighty to ninety in number, as-
sembled on the Sunday, and the meeting commenced on
the Monday morning, and terminated on Saturday
evening. We all breakfasted, dined, and supped to-
gether, and the meeting at meals and for business ap-
peared like the meeting of a friendly family party,
although composed of members of opposing creeds and
politics.

I was truly gratified with the spirit which prevailed
among these parties from their meetingto their separation.
I did not during the entire week hear an angr^' word or
witness an unkind feeling among these learned men,
met to promote useful knowledge in the spirit of charity
and kindness. Among such a number of savants, each
occupied for so long a period in giving and receiving
valuable scientific discoveries, I never before or since
witnessed so much unbroken harmony, or so little!
ignorant selfishness. g

Early in the week I was requested to ex])lain my
views to the meeting. They appeared to create a lively ii
sensation and much interest among the members, and c
were the subject of much conversation while we remained o
at Lausanne. I was unanimously elected an honorary it
member of the society, and no doubt through the kind- ai
ness of Professor Pictet, who was almost reverenced by w
the members, as the promoter of science, and a father in m
kindness and benevolence to them all. I w

I was made one of the lions of the meeting. The cele-| w
brated friend and tutor of the Emperor Alexander was
the number, and received much notice. His name h
escaped my memory.

Many matters now requiring my attention in Englam
and Scotland, I was obUged to hasten my departurw m
homeward, and after remaining a few days longer ii ei

ROBERT OWEN 259

Geneva wath the Professor and his most interesting
daughter, and visiting his circle of select friends, I most
reluctantly took leave of the man who had rendered me
so many important services, and who had shown me
attentions and kindness which could not be surpassed.

On my arrival in Paris I met with renewed attention
from the friends and parties whom I had left there, and
by one of the Ministers I was told that my two memorials
had been presented to Congress, and that copies were
immediately forwarded to the French Government, and
that they were acknowledged by the members of the
Congress to be the most important documents that had
been received during its sittings. The subjects of these
memorials were new to the members, and opened to them
a wide field for investigtation and reflection. They were
also prophecies which are now fulfilling in part, and will
ultimately become fulfilled to their full extent.

I found several years afterwards that these two
memorials had made an extraordinary impression on the
Sovereigns who were present, and upon the represen-
tatives of those governments whose Sovereigns and heads
were not present. As society progresses the subjects
of these memorials will have to be considered by all
governments and people.

By this visit to the continent of Europe tlie general
interest which had been excited by the extensive publi-
cation of my proceedings in the previous year in the City
of London Tavern was greatly increased, and to this day
it remains, more or less, to influence both governments
and people. Important general truths, openly declared,
without mystery, mixture of error, or fear of man, and
not promulgated for private, but for the public good,
will always produce their natural effects, especially
when given in the true spirit of charity and love for
all.

On my arrival in England I found myself at once in
the midst of most exciting proceedings.

The measures which I had adopted had aroused fears
in various quarters for the continued maintenance of old-
established prejudices and long-protected vested in-

26o THE LIFE OF

terests, known to rest on no solid base, and to be opposed
to the general interests of society.

New Lanark had become generally known, was popular,
and its popularity was daily increasing. The New
Rational Infant School which I had invented, and its
unheard-of results, were blazed abroad, and excited great
interest ; as also were the measures which I had adopted
to obtain relief for children and others so unwisely em-
ployed and oppressed by overwork in our manufactories,
by a Bill in Parliament to stay these evils.

Now all these measures, coming from one who had in
the most public manner, in midday, denounced all the
religions of the v/orld as now taught, as being the great
obstacle to all permanent substantial improvement, the
origin of all crime, and the cause to many of the most
grievous evils in human existence, was far too much to
be permitted without the whole power of the religious
world being aroused to stay my course, and if possible
to destroy the individual who had the temerity thus
single-handed openly to oppose the greatest power of
human creation, supported by the prejudices implanted
in society during many centuries.

The cause of the individual thus placed seemed to all
utterly hopeless. But from his first daring onset he had,
contrary to his own anticipations, not only escaped
without personal danger, but for the daring act itself
had received, from one of the most numerous and exciting
public meetings ever held under cover in the metropoUs
of the British Empire, the most heart -felt, overwhelming
applause perhaps ever witnessed.

But how was this ? — for the applause was almost unan-
imous from all parties, friends and foes. It was not
that these parties approved of a deed so daring against
all the religions of the world, and of course against all
the constituted authorities of the earth ; butiall present
were conscious that on entering that meeting I was be-
yond comparison the most generally popular character
living, and all were at once (as many of my former
opponents in principle afterwards acknowledged to me)
struck, as it were by an electric shock, with the magni-

ROBERT OWEN 261

tude oi the self-sacrifice which I had thus made to truth,
intended for the benefit of the human race. 1

To that hour my society was courted by the most
distinguished for talent, goodness, and station, and my
influence with those in power was deemed to be greater
than that of any private individual, being at this period
well known personally to the leading members of both
Houses of Parliament, and favoured by most of them.
The audience upon that occasion were conscious that in a
few minutes I had destroyed this unequalled popularity,
the growth of many years.

To that hour all the London morning and evening
daily newspapers were unitedly warm in my praises,
and in advocating my views for the relief of the poor, and
for ameliorating the condition of the children and others
employed in our manufactories. The impression of this
great self-sacrifice was such on the meeting, that I had
even after this daring denouncement for a considerable
time a large majority in favour of the resolution which
I proposed, to appoint a committee of the leading men
of both parties to fully investigate the new views which
I advocated. But the leaders of the out-of-doors violent
party had come there determined to prevent its being
carried ; and finding the majority strong against them,
they agreed among themselves to speak against time.
The House had been crammed full from eleven o'clock in
the morning, many having come to secure seats even
earlier, and this most excited meeting had continued until
four o'clock, and the motion was going to be put, when
these out-and-out opponents raised such a clamour against
putting the resolution to the meeting, that for the sake
of quietness and order they were allowed to go on speak-
ing until about seven o'clock. Many of the most
respectable part of the meeting left, for they were dis-
gusted with this unreasonable proceeding ; for these
violent men had sent out scouts to bring in their men
to occupy the seats of those who had been fairly tired
out with speeches having no real reference to the subject
before them.

But my mission for the hour and the day had been

262 THE LIFE OF

accomplished. I was satisfied, and was indifferent, or
rather wished that the resolution should be lost, which
it was not even yet by numbers ; but, yielding to the
clamour, I advised my friends to permit the negative
to be declared, rather than longer detain the meeting.

The Rubicon was now passed, and I had my future
measures to consider and adopt.

The next day, as I had previously arranged, all the
daily morning and evening papers had my address to the
meeting published accurately, word for word. But the
Times newspaper on this day for the first time had an
article in addition opposed to my views, written I had
reason to believe by a clergyman of the Church of
England.

By such a publication in all the newspapers my main
point was gained, and I purchased that day more than
thirty thousand additional newspapers, and sent them
to the leading characters over the kingdom. Thus mak-
ing such an open attack on the combined superstitions
of the world as was never before made or as never could
have been made by any one except under the peculiar
and extraordinary circumstances in which I was placed
when I went to that meeting.

I was fully aware of the powers of darkness against
which I had to contend, clothed in the religious garb of
all the superstitions in the world. I was quite con-
scious of the innumerable ramifications of vested interests
and of the customs and habits of the various countries
in favour of things as they were, and of the strong dislike
to change. In addition to all these, I had made an im-
pression on the minds of many of my friends, that I had
destroyed my influence with the public for ever. In
their opinion I had entered the meeting clothed in the
garb of the highest and most valuable popularity, and
I had left it disrobed of the entire garment, and hence-
forward to be an isolated, unnoticed individual, without
a thread of popularity for my use through life. ,.

These sayings, however, influenced me not. I had

previously made up my mind, not only to the loss of

•Y popularity, but to the loss of liberty, fortune, and life ;

ROBERT OWEN 263

and I therefore considered I was the gainer of a great
victory over prejudice, superstition, and the powers of
the old system of falsehood, ignorance, poverty, disunion,
and crime ; and I felt not onlj' strong in the power of
truth, but conscious that by patience, perseverance, and
consistency in the course which I had adopted, ultimate
success was certain.

It is an extraordinary fact, that under the innumerable
contests in which I was destined to encounter the preju-
dices or superstition of all parties for so many years, I
never once felt the slightest misgiving or doubt that I
should in the course of time overcome every obstacle,
and that sooner or later the population as one man would
admit the great and all-important truth for the permanent
progress and happiness of all of human kind, " that the
" character of man is before and from birth formed for
" him," and that, with this knowledge, comprehended in
all its bearings, a good, useful, and most valuable char-
acter might with ease and pleasure be formed by society
for every one from birth, and to some important extent
even before birth, so as to improve the germ or natural
organization before birth in an increasing ratio through
every succeeding generation.

With this impression deeply seated in the inmost
recesses of my mind, no obstacle, no temporary defect,
no abuse from the press or religions, created the slightest
discouragement to my onward progress. Knowing how
the characters of all were formed /or them, their abuse
and violence only created a sympathy for them in pro-
portion to their ignorance, and to the misery which that
ignorance necessarily inflicted upon them.

But on my return to England I soon found I must pre-
pare for the full extent of opposition which my so public
uncompromising denunciations against all the religions
of the world naturally excited. And this opposition .
continued without ceasing for upwards of thirty years,"t-
following my footsteps wherever I went, using all the
unfair means of established power and prejudices to
frustrate every attempt I made to practically benefit
poor suffering ill-used humanity.

264 1'HE LIFE OF

My antecedents, however, were a tower of strength to
me, and enabled me whenever I was openly attacked to
come off victor. But nothing short of these could for so
long a period have sustained anyone against the extended
unfair means adopted by the, no doubt in many cases,
sincerely pious, and bigoted, of all the religious sects,
trained to believe that by so doing, they, poor creatures,
were doing their supposed God a great service !

But my antecedents were unassailable. I had steadily
for more than a quarter of a century governed one
population in England of five hundred and another in
Scotland of two thousand five hundred, and had pro-
duced, by a new mode of governing by love and wisdom,
results never before witnessed, and a degree of happiness
for twenty years, among the latter, never previously
known to be experienced by any workpeople in any part
of the world.

I had been Lancaster's first and most confided-in patron
as long as he remained in England. I had given him a
thousand pounds to aid him in the founding of his germ
of education for the poor in England, Ireland, and
Scotland.

I had offered a similar sum to Dr. Bell's committee
for aiding him, if they would open their schools for
children of all denominations, as Lancaster and his
committee had done, but only half that amount if they
continued to exclude all except those of the Church of
England. As I have before stated, this offer was de-
bated two days in full committee, and ultimately it was
decided by a small majority to continue to exclude all
dissenters from the Church and to accept only the five
hundred pounds. But in twelve months afterwards I
had the satisfaction to learn that the practice which I
had advocated was adopted.

I had caused a Bill to be brouglit into Parliament to
give the best relief that such a despotic and evil devised
system as our manufacturing system is would admit, and
I exhibited in the manufactory at New Lanark the prac-
tice recommended in the Bill as I first had it introduced
by Sir Robert Peel into the House of Commons, where it

ROBERT OWEN 265

was allowed by him to be so altered as to be of little or
no real utility.

And I had now sacrificed every worldly consideration
to perform a deeply impressed conscientious conviction
of a duty, deemed far more important to perform than
the preservation of life itself.

These antecedents now constituted a shield which so
protected me that no party in Church or State ever
ventured to make an open attack upon me, or to
impugn my motives.

But the word " infidel " was the watchword of attack
with all my opponents, and by attributing all that the
imagination could be made to receive to be the worst of
wickedness or the essence of evil, the objects of the de-
luded pious and of the bigot were to a certain extent suc-
cessful for many years against the progress of the system
which I advocated, and which I have never ceased to
advocate even to this day, knowing that the principles,
spirit, and practice were too true and good to be ulti-
mately overcome by all the powers of darkness and of
mystification. My confidence that truth and goodness
would, by patience and perseverance, overcome falsehood
and evil, was never for a moment shaken ; and let me
ask where now is the power that will fairly and openly
attempt to defend the principle, spirit, and universal
practice of the old system, by which the population of
the world ever has been, and is at this day, so grossly
misgoverned, or will attempt to disprove the divine
truth, spirit, and practice of the system for the speedy
change of the present wretched mode of forming the
character and governing the population of the world,
and to obtain the permanent happiness of our race ?

I challenged to friendly debate the advanced minds of
the world, to meet me at the Congress which I called to
commence the 14th May 1857, to disprove what I have
said of the old system, or to deny the plain and obvious
facts from the knowledge of whicli the glorious new-
existence of man willj^arise and be established for
ever.

Opposed by the underlings of the Church, by the

266 THE LIFE OF

conscientious pious, and by the bigoted and ignorant of
all parties, especially by the cruel Malthusian political
economists, yet have I been continually sustained by the
best and the most advanced and independent among all
classes.

The most valuable of these, while he lived, was his
Royal Highness the late Duke of Kent, whose real
character for the last four years of his life is yet but little
known to the public. His letters addressed to me, about
thirty of them, will show the power and goodness of
that mind which, had he lived to reign, would have given
all his influence to have peaceably established truth in
principle, spirit, and practice throughout the British
Empire, and by the success of such a change in governing,
would have induced all other governments to imitate
his.

In 1815 I first submitted to his Royal Highness the
New View of Society, by which a new and very
superior character could be permanently given to the
human race. He immediately studied the subject, with
a mind truly desirous of discovering the truth for useful
practical application. He daily witnessed and strongly
felt the hollowness, worthlessness, and hourly annoyances
of what the world called greatness, and he ardently
longed that simple nature in all its truthfulness should
attain and assert her rightful dominion over the ignorant,
undeveloped assumptions of man, flattered to his injury
and to the destruction of common sense in all his asso-
ciations of ideas and conduct, and made continually,
by being trained in a false and wicked system, to call
good evil and evil good, and thus to prevent the possibility
of that union of the human race, through which alone
happiness can ever be attained.

During the period from 1815, and to the time of the
ever-to-be-lamented death of his late Royal Highness,
I often resided at 49 Bedford Square, the town residence
of my friend and partner John Walker of Arno's Grove.

Their Royal Highnesses the Dukes of Kent and
Sussex, who at this period were much united in affection
and pursuits, occasionally looked in upon me to study

ROBERT OWEN 267

the model which I had there, of the first new surroundings
in which I proposed to place the poor and working
classes, to train them out of their inferior habits and to
give good and superior ones to their children ; and also
to see and draw their own conclusions from inspecting the
cubic proportions of the different classes of society, which
I had directed to be made to exhibit to the eye the
contrast between the amount in numbers of the govern-
ing and the governed classes.

On some of these visits the royal dukes would bring
with them some members of the higher nobility. On one
occasion the Duke of Kent observed one of them to point
significantly to the great difference between the very
small cube which represented the governing powers (the
Royal Family and House of Peers) and the various classes
governed by them, and looking at the Duke, as much as
to say, — " Is not this rather a dangerous and levelling
" exhibition ? " The Duke caught the expression, and
said — " I see you imagine I have not studied this subject,
" and that I do not foresee its ultimate results. I know
" these will be a much more just equality of our race,
" and an equality that will give much more security
" and happiness to all, than the present system can give
" to any ; and it is for this reason that I so much approve
" of it and give it my support."

And his Royal Highness was consistent in this conduct
to the day of his departure into the sphere of spirits.

Many of the so-called strong (sceptical) minds of the
world will object to this last phrase " sphere of spirits."
But I am compelled by the evidence of my senses to
know that spirits occupy space, called by them spheres,
and that they communicate with their friends here on
earth, in their natural character, except that they are
not visible as when living. I have had the unspeakable
gratification and happiness of being visited by the spirit
of his Royal Highness, who communicated with me in
precisely his manner and phraseology as wlien conversing
with me formerly, and spoke of his former domestic
relations and interests, and gave me more valuable and
important information respecting the spheres and past

1

268 THE LIFE OF

events and personages than I could have conceived to be
possible.

This may be^^new to many who cannot believe in any-
thing new which they cannot comprehend.

A committee was formed to promote my " new views,"
and the Duke was its chairman. PubUc meetings of
much interest were held with the same objects. His
Royal Highness presided at these public meetings, and a
better chairman for such meetings has seldom been seen ;
for as a chairman over an audience of strong conflicting
opinions, he was, in his manner and mode of conducting
it, so faultless as to satisfy all parties with his fairness
and just impartiahty. His sudden and premature de-
parture hence made a great difference in the manner in
which I had afterwards to carry on my contest with the
old system. But no doubt, like all other proceedings
throughout the universe, it was necessary, and for the
best, to assist to bring about future events in the due
order of nature.

His Royal Highness died but a short period after he
had arranged personally with me to come in the spring
with the Duchess and the infant princess (our present so
justly loved and popular Queen) to spend three months
quietly with me at Braxfield, my then residence, beauti-
fully situated on the banks of the Clyde, surrounded on
all sides by romantic scenery, and at a convenient dis-
tance from New Lanark, then unique in its arrangements
and in its results, to produce as much goodness and happi-
ness in a working population as the existing system of
ignorance, falsehood, and evil would admit.

During this intended visit we had proposed to consider
in what manner the change of system could be gradually
and peaceably made, so that, if possible, none should be
injured, but all should be benefited by the change. The
Duke's mind was one of high integrity, and of great firm-
ness when he felt strongly that he was in the true path
of right principle and beneficial practice, and his judgment
and foresight greatly exceeded the aristocratic mind of
Europe at that period. His letters evince the goodness
of his disposition and his anxious desire to improve the

ROBERT OWEN 269

condition of the suffering classes, and he well knew that
! all classes were suffering in different ways, and every
suggestion which he made proved his practical knowledge
of the present state of societ3% and of the difficulties to
be overcome before the public mind could be fully
prepared for such an entire change as he foresaw must
be effected in principle, spirit, and practice before any
real, substantial, permanent good could be effected for
society.

It was a great privilege to converse confidentially on
these subjects with his Royal Highness, whose charity
for the trained and educated weakness of all classes was
a prominent feature in his character, which contained
all the essential qualities for a great and successful re-
former, without violence.

After he had studied the New View of Society, and
other works which I had written explanatory of the
principles and spirit of the system for new-forming the
human character from birth and in part even before
birth, and for new-governing the human race, and when
he had conversed much with me on these subjects, which,
when he fully comprehended them, appeared to take full
possession of his mind, he was desirous to leam from the
best sources how these " new views " worked in practice.
He had heard much in their favour from a variety of
visitors to New Lanark, but he wanted fuller detailed
accounts from parties on whose experience and unbiased
judgnjent he could rely. He therefore first sent Dr.
Henry Gray Macnab, his friend and honorary physician,
requesting him to visit the estabhshment, and to remain
sufficiently long to make himself fully master of all he
saw, and to report to him accordingly.
The Doctor came, and made his report.
The Duke's friend General Desaix was in Scotland.
His Royal Highness had a high opinion of the General's
experience and knowledge of the world, and of his in-
tegrity and judgment, and the Duke wished to have
such a General's opinion, to compare it with that of his
honorary physician. The General soon succeeded the
phybician in'^ his visit ; made his examination during

270 THE LIFE OF

many days ; and made his report also in person to the
Duke. After the Duke's last letter, wishing to see me in
London, I visited him at Kensington, when he informed
me that Dr. Macnab was so pleased and satisfied with
all the results in practice, that he was become quite an
enthusiast in the cause, and would do all in his power to
promote it, and that he intended to print and publish
an account of what he had seen — which he did. And
that General Desaix was equally dehghted with the to him
wonderful arrangement of a system formed of so many
parts, and yet dovetailed into one whole, working day
by day in perfect harmony, and the minds and conduct
of the children in the three schools and the workpeople
in every department appearing to form an essential part
of that harmony. And both agreed that they never
witnessed so much oneness of feeling and so much satis-
fied happiness in any population, or indeed, they added,
anjrthing approaching to it in these respects.

"I am therefore," the Duke continued, "now, for
" myself, fully satisfied with the principles, spirit, and
" practice of the system which you advocate for new-
" forming the human character, so far as human means
" are concerned, and for new-governing the human race,
" and I acknowledge myself to be a full and devoted
" convert to your philosophy, in principle, spirit, and
" practice. But," his Royal Highness continued, " we
"must act with prudence and foresight. The Enghsh
' are emphatically a j)ractical people, and practice has
" great influence over them. I will with my family
" visit you, as I have long wished to do, and will remain
" a sufficient time to convince all parties that I had leisure
" and every opportunity to examine and observe the
" working in detail of every part of the system, and that
" what I state to the public meetings which we will hold
" on my return, and to Parliament in my place in tho
" House of Peers, is from my own closely inspected
" and fully examined knowledge ; and this will do more
" to prevent small cavil and mere talking opposition
" than any other mode that could be now adopted."
I cordially agreed with his Royal Highness, and it was

ROBERT OWEN 271

so decided. We parted — and little did I suppose it was
the last time I should see him in his earthly life.

He presided as chairman of my committee for the
last time on the first of December 1819. In the
address of the committee to the public on that day
the true character of the Duke is given by those
who had so often witnessed his devotion to the cause
which he foresaw was destined ultimately to change
the condition of the human race, from all that was in-
consistent and irrational, in forming their character by
society, in producing and distributing wealth, in attempts
to create union, goodness, knowledge, wisdom, love,
charity, and happiness, — to all that will be consistent
and rational in all these particulars.

And here I must do justice to the firm integrity and
strong sense of justice of his Royal Highness, and give
some account of a branch of the Royal Family which,
from a variety of causes, some of them mysterious, have
suffered since the death of his Royal Highness poverty
and destitution, which have called into action the
characteristic quality for firmness or sometimes obstinacy
of the Royal Family, and which obstinacy lost to this
country the colonies of the now United States, destined
to change the condition of nations, confused as it is at
this day between slavery and a new state of existence,
the latter being certain to prevail.

The branch of the Royal Family alluded to has been
known as Mrs. Serries, afterwards as the Princess Olive
of Cumberland, and now as Mrs. Lavinia Serries, the
only child of the latter.

From the documents existing and carefully preserved,
there can be no doubt of the legal claim of this family to
their being the direct descendants of the Duke of Cumber-
land, brother to his Majesty George III., and entitled
to his rank and property. His Royal Highness the
Duke of Kent introduced Mrs. Serries to me as his cousin,
and as legally entitled to the rank of Princess Olive of
Cumberland. He was deeply interested in her cause, and
in that of her only daughter and child Lavinia.

The Duke in his younger and inexperienced days, had.

272 THE LIFE OF

like all young princes of his time, outrun his income, and
now suffered the inconveniences arising from a heavy
debt. The New View of Society had opened his
mind, naturally a very honest and sincere one, to a new
world of superior existence for man upon the earth, and
he became most desirous to adopt a new mode of life for
himself, that he might the most effectually aid to pro-
mote the change from all which now appeared to him to
be error, to that which his new convictions compelled
him to believe was true and right. The reading and
studying of my first four Essays on the New View of
Society and the Formation of Character, produced a
similar effect upon Lord Liverpool, the then Prime
Minister, upon several members of his Cabinet, and many
other men of note and consideration.

In consequence of this new mind being thus formed
for his Royal Highness, he was determined to do as
much justice to his creditors as his position would admit,
and he limited himself to a comparatively small income,
giving up a large proportion of it to gi-adually extinguish
the debt which he had previously incurred, and it was
ultimately discharged with interest, except several sums
which at his request I advanced to relieve the wants
of his cousin, and which, if I had taken from him a legal
document for the amount, would also have been paid.
But when in the month of November previous to his
demise he offered and even pressed me to receive his
note of hand for six months, when he proposed to pay
me, I resolutely declined doing so, having the fullest
confidence in his word, and never supposing, with his
strong health and constitution, that there could be any
risk of the continance of his life.

I see he requests me in one of his letters at that date, to
advance on his account to Mrs. Serries three hundred
pounds, and a letter to me from Mrs. Serries contains an
acknowledgment of five hundred pounds received from
me by her on account of his Royal Highness and at his
request. Also another sum of one hundred pounds ;
and in other letters sums not especially stated.

At this period I was making money rapidly, and set

ROBERT OWEN 273

little value upon it, except for its use to forward the great
cause which so much occupied my attention, and it was
not my intention at that time, knowing the Duke's
limited means of expenditure, to ask for its return, until
I should myself feel the want of it. He made me, as
may be seen by his letters, acquainted with his financial
affairs and domestic interests.

These things are now past ; and looking back through
the vista of so many years, I have asked myself why was
the life of his Royal Highness cut thus short, and the y.
world deprived of the first sovereign who was a convert
to truth and to the just rights of humanity, and who
possessed firmness which when in power would have
stimulated him to attempt to bring over the aristocracy
to his views of gradually reforming society for the per-
manent benefit of all ?

The reply is, as it now appears to me, that that
aristocracy of powerful and wealthy families would not
then have been prepared by a sufficient progress in general
society to second his desires ; that he would have been
opposed by the then all-powerful Church and State in-
terests ; that contests and confusion would have arisen,
and matters would not have been to-day so far advanced
by the sovereign's premature attempt at reformation,
as the civilized world, and especially the British Empire,
now are, under the comparatively peaceable reign of her
Majesty, and the gradual increase of scientific knowledge
and real liberty, which have progressed in so remarkable
a manner since she ascended the throne.

And, little as the ignorant learned, and therefore
presumptuous in opposing all new knowledge beyond
their previously taught acquirements, may be prepared
to believe in spiritual existences, I have the best evidence
of my senses to know, that spirits do exist, and that they
communicate now, in the best manner that their new
state will admit, with the friends whom they have left
living in their earthly form upon the earth. And from
the highly gratifying communications which I have
had from time to time with the spirit of his Royal
Highness, I have reason to believe that from his de-
18

274 THE LIFE OF

parture hence he has had a fatherly, watchful care over
his daughter and her family, and over the interests of
the British people. Also that he has had a strong,
affectionate, brotherly interest in all the affairs and pro-
ceedings of the King of the Belgians.

The statement now made will surprise many whose
minds have not yet been prepared for this advanced
period of new knowledge so little anticipated by the
learned universities, scientific men, and the philosophers
and statesmen of the world.

The learned conservatives, in Church, State, and
literature, who so strenuously hold fast to old things
which are to pass away, cannot admit into their minds
new truths, based on new facts, previously vm known
and unsuspected by them.

To communicate in a material manner with our j)ast
and now (except on particular occasions and by par-
ticular persons) invisible relatives and friends, is an
idea as monstrous to receive by the so-called enlightened
of this day, as the monstrous statement of Galileo in his
day, to the learned of that period, that the earth was not
flat, but was a sphere in diurnal and annual motions of
immense velocities.

But yet more (to prove the irrational state to which
a fundamental error has forced even men of advanced
knowledge under this old system), M'hen facts too strong
for the mind to resist are seen and felt to force con-
viction, there is not sufficient moral courage openly to
declare the truths which they are thus compelled to know.

Such has never been the constitution of my mind. It
could never take without examination anything asserted
for truth ; and when convinced by the evidence of my
senses, through the practical investigation of facts, of
an important truth, the knowledge of which would
benefit the population of the world. I have never
hesitated on account of ])ublic opinion to make it widely
known, and I yet continue the practice.

I therefore now declare that no one, with sound
judgment and a sincere desire to discover truth, can
fairly and fully investigate the subject of these new

ROBERT OWEN 275

material manifestations, proceeding from some new
cause, hitherto unknown to and unsuspected by the
public, without being convinced that these mani-
festations do actually come from the spirits of our de-
parted friends, relatives, and others, and not from any
other source, and that the communications thus made are
in many cases highly important to the best permanent
interests of society, and most gratifying and delightful
to those who receive these manifestations from their loved
friends and relatives.

Of this character have been my communications with
the spirits of many past worthies, who evidently possess
a strong desire to improve the condition of the popu-
lation of the world.

Among these, in an especial manner, I have to name
the apparent very anxious feelings of the spirit of his
Royal Highness the late Duke of Kent (who early in-
formed me there were no titles in the spiritual spheres
into which he had entered), to benefit, not a class, a sect,
a party, or any particular country, but the whole of the
human race through futurity. And in this feeling he
seemed to be strongly united with the spirit of my friend
and warm disciple President Jefferson, and his particular
friend the celebrated Benjamin Franklin. These three
spirits have frequently come together to communicate
to me the most interesting and valuable knowledge,
with occasional notices of persons who when living were
dear to these superior spirits. But never upon any
occasion was there a trivial idea expressed by either of
them.

At one important seance these three spirits came in
company with the spirits of Channing, Chalmers, Shelley,
Byron, and several of the old prophets ; and on this
occasion the spirits of eight of my deceased relatives were
also present. Each one communicated with me through
distinct different raps, in their strongly marked characters ;'
as when in life upon the earth.

The object of these extraordinary communications
from the invisible spheres of spirits is uniformly stated by
each of these advanced spirits, when asked separately

276 THE LIFE OF

and at different times, to be to reform the world and to
unite the population as one family or one man.

The spirit of the Duke of Kent has uniformly ex-
pressed for me the same kindness, confidence, and
affection so evident in his manner while alive upon the
earth.

I doubt not the truth of the frequent statements of
these superior spirits, that these manifestations shall be
increased more and more, until all sceptics shall be
convinced of their reaUty, and the world shall be reformed
and regenerated in character, conduct, and spirit.

But I must now return to my material history.

I had published a letter addressed to his Grace the
Archbishop of Canterbury, on the union of churches
and schools, which letter was printed and widely cir-
culated, and it produced a powerful effect on the public
mind, and prepared many members of both Houses of
ParUament to begin to think it a duty not longer to be
resisted to take some thought and to adopt some means
to introduce national education into their legislative
proceedings.

This letter will be now useful to be republished, in
the present confused, disordered, and irrational contests
engaging public notice upon this all-important subject.
And it is inserted in the Appendix.

The public meetings which created so much excitement
in 1817, — my memorials to the Sovereigns assembled in
Congress at Aix-la-Chapelle, my public letter to the
manufacturers, and this to the Archbishop of Canter-
bury, with the Bill for the relief of children, which was
yet only in progress in the House of Commons, had
aroused in many a great desire that an experiment should
be made of one community, or that Parliament should
at least fully investigate the principles and plans which I
advocated and proposed. But the Church, then all-
powerful, and a large majority of the old aristocracy,
had now combined to prevent, to the extent of their
means, direct and indirect, any pubhc or parliamentary
investigation ; and as far as possible the Church took
measures to prevent the circulation of my writings.

ROBERT OWEN 277

My first four Essays on a New View of Society and the
Formation of Character had gone through five superior
large editions, and all the leading and most respectable
publishers were desirous of having their names to the
work, and there those names are on the few copies re-
maining in the hands of friends and in public and
private libraries.

But now the booksellers throughout the two Islands
were warned by the supposed friends of the Church, that
if they sold Mr. Owen's works, they should not sell any
of theirs ; and from that time my works were not to
be had at any so-called respectable booksellers in Great
Britain or Ireland. And from this cause those esteemed
the most respectable publishers were deterred from
publishing any of my works, even those to which they
had been previously so ambitious to put their names —
works which had passed the ordeal of our Government,
and had been submitted by it to the most learned
universities and the most prominently learned men in
the civilized world, who found no error in them ; works
which, with my other proceedings, converted Lord
Liverpool (the then Prime Minister), and Lady Liverpool,
who in consequence requested to be admitted to our
interviews, and who took an interested part in our
conversation ; for she had a superior mind, with a kind
and most amiable disposition.

At one of these interviews in Fife House she said, —
" Mr. Owen, we have had a young man lately come into
" our office, who appears of much promise. His name
" is Peel, and he is the eldest son of Sir Robert Peel."
This was in 1815, when Mr. Peel had been lately made
private secretary to Lord Liverpool — the same who in
my next interview with Lord Liverpool, when I entered
the private secretary's apartment to wait the announce-
ment of my arrival to his Lordship, immediately stood
up, and remained standing until I-ord Liveri)ool himself
came to request me to come into his own apartment.
The same who became the well-known Sir Robert Peel,
Prime Minister of the British Government.

But yet more, — the works which all the so-called most

278 THE LIFE OF

respectable publishers and booksellers were, on account
of their substantial worldly interests, obliged to decline
to publish or sell, Lord Sidmouth, while Secretary of
State for the Home Department, requested copies of, for
each of the English bishops ; which I gave him, and which
he distributed to the bishops, the same works of which
the Archbishop of Armagh, when Mr. Edgeworth, the
author, and father of the celebrated Miss Edgeworth,
was present, knowing what Lord Sidmouth had done,
requested from me copies for all the Irish bishops, which
I gave him, and which induced the Irish bishops, when I
visited Ireland, almost as one man to give me the most
kind and hospitable reception.

These works had also been translated into foreign
languages, and very many editions were published in
the United States, where also they had prepared for me a
warm national reception. For, as I have before stated,
in 1816, when John Quincey Adams was the United
States Ambassador in London, he applied to me, as
these works were then widely circulating among the
higher ranks and much commended, to know if I wished
them to be introduced into the United States, for if I
did, he should shortly return there, and if I would entrust
him with copies for the President and his Cabinet, and
for the governor of each State in the Union, he would
assure me that they should be faithfully delivered. I
was gratified by the request ; and afterwards, when in
the United States, I found he had punctually performed
his promise. And these rejected works of the book-
sellers, and of course of the publishers, made me the lion
of the time when I made the voyage and first visited
the United States. They gave me a ready introduction
to all the Presidents of the Republic, from John Adams
downwards, and with him, Jefferson, Madison, Munro,
John Quincey Adams, General Jackson, and Mr. Van
Buren, by all of whom I was admitted into their con-
fidence, and from whom I obtained their best thoughts,
and the unbiassed results of their valuable experience.
President Washington was dead before my first arrival ;
but I was kindly welcomed and cordially received by

ROBERT OWEN 279

his near relative Judge Washington, of the Supreme
Giurt of the United States. The particiilars of these
interesting events will be given in future volumes of my
life, should my earthly life be spared to write them.

These works, imperially bound, were also gladly
received by every sovereign in Europe, and by Napoleon
the First when in the Island of Elba, in which he had time
to study them, and did so, as I was afterwards informed
by Major-General Sir Neil Campbell, who had been
applied to at the request of Napoleon by Berthier (the
Emperor's friend and favourite), to learn if Sir Neil knew
anything of the author, which at that time he did not.
It was stated that these works, in which the erroneous
warlike proceedings of Napoleon were animadverted upon,
had so far changed his views, that he said, should he be
allowed by the other European Powers to remahi quiet
on the throne of France, he would do as much for peace
as he had previously done in war.

Yet these works, so esteemed by the leading minds of
the world, I was, through the influence of the Church and
other religious sects, henceforth obliged to publish through
the cheap and fearless liberal radical publishers ; and so
with all my works written since, or to be written, as I
have for some time been my own publisher, against all
the poor mistaken powers of darkness, who yet dare not
permit the light of truth to be seen, although they would
themselves become speedily great gainers through the
knowledge which the light of truth would bring to them.
But their deeds are yet too dark to bear this light.

The increase, however, of true charity, arising from
the knowledge how their characters have been mis-
formed for them, will now soon make a great change for
them in the minds and feelings of all parties, when real
mental liberty shall be attained, and truth for the first
time in the histoiy of the human race shall be set free
from the tyranny of ignorance and superstition ; and
then knowledge, kindness, charity, love, and wisdom
shall cover the earth, as the waters cover the seas.

All may be assured that this glorious period is near at
hand, an(l that tlie new spiritual manifestations are

28o THE LIFE OF

destined to be the great lever in this movement, and
that the stone with which the builders-up of society
refused to build, will become the chief stone of the
corner.

Notwithstanding the combined underhand opposition
of the Church and all other religious sects, aided on all
occasions by the Malthusian modern political economists,
the principles which I advocated, and the public prac-
tices, opened to all parties at home or from abroad, which
I continued to pursue without turning to the right side
or to the left, made great way daily with the thoughtful
and disinterested among all classes.

The poor law guardians in Leeds were in difficulties
about maintaining their increasing poor, arising from a
want of employment for those willing and able to work.
They had turned their attention to the plans which I had
so publicly spread abroad by my various publications,
and I was requested to visit Leeds and give them a more
full and detailed explanation of the practical measures
which I recommended. In consequence I took there my
model of the proposed new surroundings in which to
place the working classes, and thus, if rationally followed
up, to destroy poverty for ever from the face of the
earth.

On my arrival in Leeds, a public meeting was
called, and the Mayor (George Banks, Esq.) presided.
The meeting was crowded to excess. I explained
my views, not only by word, but through the model,
to the eye, the best of all modes of instruction. The
meeting became enthusiastic in its applause, and
was unanimous in its favour and warm approval, as
intelligent unprejudiced minds must ever be, and which
was afterwards evinced by the practical measures which
the poor law guardians immediately commenced. [See
Mr. Robert Oastler's and Mr, John Cawood's letters,
which will be published in my correspondence.]

They determined to appoint three delegates, upon
whose practical knowledge, judgment, and integrity
they could depend, to visit New Lanark, and to report
what was the actual practice jn that now far-famed

ROBERT OWEN 281

establishment. Mr. Edward Baines, proprietor of the
Leeds Mercury, and father of the present Right Hon.
M. T. Baines, and of the present editor of the Leeds
Mercury (of whom I will afterwards speak), Mr. John
Cawood, a wealthy manufacturer, and an important and
very active member of the town council, and Mr.
Robert Oastler, a highly respected citizen of Leeds, and
father of the afterwards popular and well-known Richard
Oastler, were the delegates appointed.

These gentlemen came — fully and closely examined
the schools, mills, machine manufactories, brass and iron
foundries, and the unique village arrangements for pro-
viding food and clothes, and the pleasure grounds, etc.,
for the improvement, comfort, and happiness of the
workpeople, the great majority, about 2500, remaining
stationary inhabitants of the village, all of which was
the property of the company. The report made by these
gentlemen on their return was printed and widely cir-
culated, and it is a full answer to the many would-be
opposing objections ; because this superior condition
of the schools, mills, and establishment generally, was
effected without religious interference, and solely by
the dictates of common sense, applied to the study
of humanity, of its natural wants, and of the easy natural
means of supplying those wants, as far as the irrationality
of all religions would admit of these remedies being
applied.

All of these gentlemen while living, although differing
from me in their religious views, were ever most kind
and hospitable to me whenever I afterwards visited
Leeds, and when I was with them their greatest pleasure
seemed to be to converse about the schools, people, and
establishment at New Lanark, as being the most ad-
vanced working, and the best and happiest population
they had seen, and they could not conceive how such
results were attained.

I was often much amused with earnest and sincere
religious persons who came to visit and inspect the
schools and establishment. After expressing their
astonishment and great delight with the wonderful

282 THE LIFE OF

results, as they called them, which they saw, so com-
plicated, and yet combined in such a manner as to work
together with the regularity and harmony of clockwork,
they would say — " Ah ! Mr. Owen, if you would but add
" to all these beautiful proceedings our religious views,
" your establishment would be perfect, and there would
" be nothing more to wish for."

I would then put a few questions to them in this man-
ner— " You approve of what you have seen in practice
" throughout all the departments of the establishment — •
" schools, mills, village stores, and the appearance and
" manners of the people ? "

" Yes ; nothing that I have seen elsewhere " (or some-
thing similar in meaning) " can be compared with the
" order, system, and arrangement of the whole, or with
" the evident harmony and delight of the children, or
" the apparent self-satisfaction and happiness of the
" workpeople."

" But," I continued, " you are very desirous I should
introduce your religious views ? "

" Yes ; that is the only thing now required."

I then would ask the well-meaning party, whether
Churchman, Catholic, Dissenter, Quaker (or whatever
might be the religious belief which they had been
taught), whether they had ever seen such practical
results produced by any persons possessing their religious
opinions ? " No, they had not " — was the answer
without exception, from every one ; and the number of
those well-intentioned, kind-hearted men and women who
came with the hope of converting me, each to their own
peculiar religious views, and thus to save me from ever-
lasting perdition, was very great, and continued so until
I left the establishment.

My final reply to all these kind friends was — " When
" you can show me a similar practice created by those
" of your belief, I will then investigate your particular
" views of religion more fully than I have yet done. But
" I have most conscientiously examined all the religious
" faiths of which I could obtain authentic information,
" yours among the number, and I have not yet di.s-

ROBERT OWEN 283

' covered one of them that was calculated to produce
'.the practice which you have so highly approved. You
* very naturally, as you have been taught, desire my
' practice with your faith and religious prejudices. My
' experience leads me to know that your religious views
' and this practice are incompatible. They are like oil
' and water, and never can be made to unite. Your
' mind has been so trained and educated from infancy,
' that you would conscientiously prefer your faith
' without the practice, to having that practice without
' the faith. I know this from having been much in the
' interior of the various sects of religious minds, and
' knowing well the limited circle of their ideas."

I preferred the good and happy practice without these
sectarian faiths, to any of them without the practice of
goodness and happiness.

Knowing well that pure love and charity, the only
foundation for real goodness and happiness among the
human race, and all the religions of the world as they
have been taught to this day, are directly opposed to
each other, and never can be united, my plans were all
laid to gradually supersede these religions of opposing
repulsive and irrational faiths, by the practical religion
of love and charity for our race, irrespective of colour,
country, class, sect, sex, party, or difference in natural
organization or constitution ; and thus to attain happi-
ness, the great object of humanity, as well as of all that
have life.

The religions of the world are and ever have been the
real cause of all falsehood, disunion, and crime, and of
all the miseries of the human race, as is so obvious at
this day to all who can observe, reflect, and deduce
sound or rational conclusions from such observations
and reflections.

This subject must be now fairly met in front, and
without the shadow of turning from the direct road to
real knowledge, goodness, and happiness ; for until this
perpetual source of falsehood, disunion, crime, and all
the miseries which these evils necessarily force upon the
human race, be removed, it would be most vain and use-

284 THE LIFE OF

less to attempt or to talk of measures to give wisdom,
wealth, goodness, and happiness to the human race. .

Where now, among what people, shall we go to find
the language of truth, and the practice of union, love,
and charity ? And yet all these religions profess to
teach truth, union, love, and charity.

To all whose minds iDy false training and educating
have been made irrational, not to say insane, what I am
writing will appear as an unknown language, not one
word or idea of which can they comprehend. And who
has not from birth been thus injured, physically and
mentally, by a false training and education, and by false
human external conditions ?

Humanity has ardently desired truth, union, good-
ness, love, charity, liberty, equality, and fraternity.
All these are necessary ingredients for the attainment of
rationality, wisdom, wealth, goodness, and happiness.
Shall we find these natural virtues and their results among
the old nations of the world, in China, Japan, India,
Persia, or in more modern nations — Russia, Turkey,
Austria, France, Persia, or any of the other European
kingdoms and principalities ; or in Popedom, or in
Great Britain, or in the United States ?

Listen, my friends of the human race, to the first voice
of truth that has ever been fully spoken to you, and
this universal truth shall set all nations free, and make
man for the first time in his history, from his creation,
a rational, good, wise, and happy being, having love and
charity for all of his race, and through that knowledge of
himself which can alone create universal love and charity,
all will be united as one man, and each will thus, with the
highest pleasure to every one, acquire the essence of the
wisdom of all. And man will hereafter perpetually
progress in wisdom, love, and happiness. Listen and
open your ears and your minds to receive the most
important truths that man has yet spoken to man.

All the religions of the world a.Te based on total ignorance
of all the fundamental laws of humanity, and of the
facts of undeviating perpetual occurrence.

Hence their hatred of truth, the All Good of Humanity.

ROBERT OWEN 285

Hence the two most advanced nations of modern times
are now governed by falsehood, fraud, and force, and
the population of Great Britain are held in such physical
and mental (that is rehgious) bondage, that at this day,
called an enhghtened period of human existence, all,
from the highest to the lowest, in power and intellect, are
afraid and dare not to speak the truth openly and fully
before their fellow-men. And no wonder that all are
thus cowed, and made so grossly irrational, when it is
discovered that all religions are based on the false
notions that man makes his own qualities of body and
mind ; that he can beHeve or disbeUeve at his pleasure ; "^
and that he can love and hate at the dictates of others,
or against his own natural feelings.

These gross falsehoods are the sole cause of all dis-
union and crime, and now of ignorance and poverty and
all their evil consequences.

Seeing and knowing this, and that the rehgions of the
world, so deeply rooted as they are made to be by early
training, are the horrid monsters, and united are the real
demons of humanity, which swallow up all its rationality
and happiness, can you, my reader, after one moment's
reflection on what has been written in these pages,
wonder that I should think so little of all worldly con-
siderations, and of life itself, as I did when in the great
pubhc meeting held in the metropolis in August 1817, I
so openly and fearlessly dared to denounce all the ,
rehgions of the world, as containing too much error to
admit of happiness even in paradise itself, were any of
them to be suffered to enter to disunite its in-
habitants, to create crime, and to destroy love and
charity ?

Fully conscious, as I am, of the misery which these
religions have created in the human race, which they
now create, and whidlthey must create while supported
by the authorities of the world and a pubUc opinion of
ignorant presumption, I would now, if I possessed ten
thousand lives and could suffer a painful death for
each, Nvilhngly thus sacrifice them, to destroy this Moloch,
which in every generation destroys the rationality and

286 THE LIFE OF

happiness of about a thousand millions of my poor
suffering feUow men and women.

This knowledge and this feeling will explain, not only
the cause of that denouncement in 1817, but that of the
forty years' undeviating contest which I have waged
against this monster of ignorance and wickedness ; for
from the time I made that, to the world, astounding
declaration against all the religions of the world, to the
period when I write these lines, it will in six months be
iMsi forty years that I may say," I have been grieved with
" this generation," while it has been passing through the
wilderness of ignorance and gross superstitions.

During this period, as I fully anticipated, I have been
reviled, denounced as an infidel, and opposed in every
one of my various attempts to liberate the human mind
from slavery, and from all poverty or the fear of it.

Yet when I consider the magnitude of my supposed
offending against what has hitherto been taught as true
and good, I am surprised at the small amount of evil
which I have suffered, and the extent of inward and out-
ward happiness which I have enjoyed.

Unknowing in what form or manner the Intelligence
and Power exists, which creates, un-creates, and re-creates
aU forms eternally throughout the universe — an In-
telhgence and Power far beyond the faculties of humanity
hitherto to comprehend — yet am I compelled to believe
I that this InteUigence directs all things within the universe
to produce the best possible ultimate results that the
■f eternal elements of the universe will admit. And this
I supreme Creating Mind, Intelligence, Energy, or call it
what you will, has to me, in a wondrous manner, directed
all my measures, without a particle of merit being in any
way due to me, so as to enable me to sustain this long
contest, not only without physical or mental injury,
but, as far as I can judge, from mfknowledge of human
nature under its present most unfavourable conditions
and surroundings, with a greater degree of continually
sustained happiness than has fallen to the lot of any I
have known.

This may have arisen from the convictions which I

ROBERT OWEN 287

have been compelled to receive respecting liunianity,
and how the created and educated character of all men
has been forced upon them.

With this knowledge I have been obhged to feel pity
and compassion for the characters called the worst, in
proportion to their defects created for them by the
ignorance of society, and for my most violent opponents,
knowing that they thought they were doing their duty
by opposing what they had been taught to call an infidel
— yet such an infidel as would at any time willingly have
sacrified his life for the happiness of all.

The enjoyment of my life has been greatly promoted
by the undoubted love and untiring kindness of all with
whom I have ever lived, and of a numerous association
of disciples, from whom I have continually recoiA'cd the
most pleasant attentions, in many cases amounting to a
devotion to which I was in no way entitled ; and I have
often warned them against the injurious influence of
names upon the independence of mind and of free thought
on all subjects.

I have had much difficulty in convincing many that
the authority given to names had been through all past
ages most injurious to the human race, and that at this
day their weakness of intellect was destructive of mental
power and independence. That truth required no name I
for its support ; it substantiaUy supported itself. But
that falsehood and error always required the authority
of names to maintain them in society, and to give them
ready currency with those who never reflected or thought
for themselves. Had it not been for the baneful influence
of the authority given to names, this false, ignorant,
unjust, extravagant, cruel, and misery-producing system,
of individual interest opposed to individual interest, and
of national interests o])posed to national interests, could
not have been thus long maintained through the centuries
which have passed. The immense — the incalculable
superiority of the true, enlightened, just, economical,
merciful, and happiness-producing system, of union
between individuals, nations, and tribes, over the earth,
would have been long since discovered and practised,

288 THE LIFE OF

and the Millennial state of man upon the earth would
have been now in full vigour and established for ever.

What divisions, hatreds, miseries, and dreadful
physical and mental sufferings have been produced
Y by the names of Confucius, Brahma, Juggernaut, Moses,
Jesus, Mahomet, Penn, Joe Smith, Mother Lee, etc., etc. !
If any of these could have imagined that their names
should cause the disunion, hatred, and suffering which
poor deluded followers and disciples have experienced,
how these good or well-intentioned persons would have
lamented that they had ever lived to implant such deadly
hatred between man and man, and to cause so much
error and false feeling between those whose happiness can
arise only from universal union of mind and co-operation
in practice, neither of which can any of the religions of
the world, as now taught and practised, ever produce.

Listen ! men of all religions, and especially the
authorities and present directing powers of each ! and
let what I am going to say sink deep into your minds,
and ponder well upon every word which shall be stated.

The reign of all your religions is coming to an end. I
trust it will be a peaceful and happy termination for
yourselves, and a joyful one for all the nations of the
earth. And should it not be so, it will be because you
have been trained and educated from birth in error, and
have thus been made to be obstinate in error, against
glaring universal facts, right reason from those facts, and
against the plainest dictates of common sense.

" What ! " you will all now naturally exclaim, " are
" you going to deprive us of our long cherished religion,
" on which our hopes of heaven depend, and by which
" loss you will leave the human mind baseless for good,
" and a wild waste of errors and of misery ? "

No ! my friends, I am not going to deprive you of
religion ; only of its errors ; for true religion can alone
create and secure permanently the goodness, the wisdom
(which includes knowledge and its right application to
all human affairs), and the everlasting happiness of man
through all his changes through eternity.

" What," you will now ask, " is this true religion } "

ROBERT OWEN 289

It is the essence of all your religions, freed from the
garbage with which man in his inexperience of his own
nature, and while his reasoning faculties have been
undeveloped and in the progress of their growth, has
more or less surrounded the modicum of truth in each,
which all of you have most innocently called and believed
to be Ithe true religion. This essence is the spirit of pure,
undefiled, universal love and charity for man, appliedx"'
to daily practice in voice, manner, and act, and of love
for that energy and power which composes, decomposes,
and recomposes perpetually the elements of the universe,
and which is called God, or by some term similar in
signification f but which term or word, so used, makes a
different impression upon minds differently combined by
nature, and differently trained and educated.

Now, as man can do no good to this, to us, yet mys-
terious ever-acting power throughout the universe, or
God, man has no other rational means of showing his
love to God, except through his unceasing love in daily
practice to man, and in showing mercy to all that has
life, as far as is practicable with safety to his own life
and rational existence.

Now this true religion of love and charity, evident in
voice, manner, and act, daily to all of human-kind, and
in showing mercy to all sentient life, will create an
entirely new system in forming the character of the human
race, in constructing society through all its ramifications,
and in governing all human affairs. This great change,
as it will be given to the world through me as the human
agent, would be, according to past unfortunate custom,
called the " Owenian " system of society. Now " Owen-
"ian" has no more meaning than any of the names of
authority through past ages, and which have created
such deadly feud, hatred, and sufferings between different
divisions of the human race ; and in future every means
"should be adopted to prevent this most lamentable prac-
tice through the future history of man upon the earth.

This new state of existence may be called " The
" Millennium " ; or " The Rational State of Human
Existence " ; or " The Natural State of Man, arising from

19'

290 THE LIFE OF

his Physical and Mental Powers being rationally de-
veloped" ; or " The Union of Humanity for the Happiness
of All " ; or " The Brotherhood of the Human Race " ;
or by any other yet more expressive designation. But
avoid personal names, as you would avoid a serpent or
a hungry boa constrictor.

I will now return to the narrative of my life. The
establishment at New Lanark had created great excite-
ment among the active public, making many friends and
many opponents — and well it might.

Its friends saw in the distance a possible escape from
disunion, sin, and misery. Its opponents saw in the
distance the destruction of their so much cherished
sectarianism, vested interests, and private property.
These were powerful forces on both sides.

I soon perceived that the enlightened good were
arranging themselves on the one side, the ignorant and
prejudiced good, with the ignorantly selfish, on the other.
The first in favour of my "new views," the last in
favour of " things as they are."

I I find on referring to my correspondence, that my
Observations on the Mamifacturing System, and the
measures which I had proposed to remedy some of the
great evils which it had produced, and to prevent the
yet greater which it was in its present state calculated
to create, had made a favourable impression for me
among all the members of the Cabinet, particularly with
Lords Liverpool, Sidmouth, and Castlereagh, and Mr.
Canning, the Queen, Prince Regent, Dukes of York,
Cumberland, Kent, Sussex, Cambridge, and Gloucester,
Prince Leopold, Princess Charlotte, Duchess of Kent,
and in fact with all the members of the Royal Family,
and with considerable numbers among the highest
nobility and most distinguished men and women of the
day, — as will be seen when my correspondence is pub-
lished. '

My Essays on the New View of Society and the
Formation of Character had, as I have stated, now passed
through five superior editions, had been translated into
Frencli and German, and had attracted the attention of

ROBERT OWEN 291

the leading European and American governments, and
were well received by most of them, and not opposed by
any of them. [See the letters of my foreign corre-
spondents, addressed to myself and to my friend and
partner, and agent with foreign governments, John
Walker, Esq., of Amo's Grove, Southgate, Middlesex.]

I had also with me Mr. Wilberforce, Mr. Thornton, and
Mr. Charles Grant, Chairman of the Court of Directors
of the East India Company, and father of Lord Glenelg,
who, with his brother the eloquent Member of Parliament,
who had afterwards an ofhcial appointment in India,
! were most friendly to my views, and to a greater or less
I extent aided and promoted them ; as also did, perhaps
to a somewhat less extent, on account of his sectarian
views, Mr. Zachary Macaulay, father of the present
famous historian and former eloquent M.P.
I Among innumerable others who took a lively interest
in aiding my measures were Lord Lauderdale, of whom
more hereafter. Also the Marquis, and especially the
Marchioness of Hastings, while the Countess of Loudon,
and after her marriage with the Marquis ; the Earl of
Harrowby ; his brother Mr. Rider ; John Smith, Esq.,
M.P. ; Mr. Hoare, senior, banker ; Henry Hase, chief
cashier of the Bank of England ; Mr. Nathan Roths-
child, the celebrated founder of his house, and the truly
good and excellent Madame Rothschild, of both of whom
more hereafter ; Mr. (now Sir Isaac) Lyon Goldsmid, his
lady, and their family, of whom also more hereafter ;
Sir Charles Gray, late Governor of Jamaica, of whom I
shall give an anecdote subsequently. ^
"I To these may be added, as especial friends, Viscount
and Viscountess Torrington, Sir WiUiam de Crespigny,
Mr. (afterwards Sir Robert) Listen, our, at the time, most
efi&cient Ambassador to many courts — see later in rny
history an interesting account of him in one of his visits
to me. '

Of men of great practical knowledge who were much
interested in my views and practical measures, were Mr.
WiUiam Stmtt, of Derby, father of the lately made Lord
Belper, and his brother Joseph, two men whose talents in

292 THE LIFE OF

various ways and whose truly benevolent dispositions
have seldom been equalled.

And as friends, although not disciples, the wealthy
Richard Arkwright ; Mr. Samuel Oldknow ; the Mars-
lands, of Stockport, Samuel and Peter ; Mr. Simpson ;
Messrs. Maconnel and Kennedy of Manchester ; Messrs.
Gott, Banks, Goodman, Cawood, Baines, etc., of Leeds ;
all at the time brother cotton-spinners.

Among the literary men and women who were friendly
to my views were Mrs. Fletcher, so long, and I believe
still considered Queen of the Unitarians, of whom more
hereafter; Miss Edgeworth, Miss Porter, William Godwin,
William Roscoe, Thomas Clarkson, of anti-slavery
memory, and many of the liberal writers of the day,
whose names, except that of John Minter Morgan, do
not now occur to me.

I Among those who were very friendly, but were opposed
to me on some points of political economy or poHtics, were
the Rev. Mr. Malthus ; James Mill, of the India House,
and the friend of Jeremy Bentham, my partner in the
New Lanark establishment, of whom more hereafter ;
Messrs. David Ricardo, M.P. ; Joseph Hume, M.P. ;
Francis Place ; Colonel Torrens ; Thomas Attwood,
M.P. ; etc., etc.

Among the leading radical reformers who were per-
sonally very friendly, but yet were opposed to my
New View of Society^ were Sir Francis Burdett, M.P. ;
Major Cartwright ; Henry Hunt, M.P. ; WilhamCobbett,
M.P. ; Feargus O'Connor, M.P. ; Mr. John Frost ; Mr.
Ernest Jones ; and many others, i

My knowledge of the formation of character enabled
me to know how their characters were formed, and there-
fore enabled me to differ from them in opinion and yet
to do justice to their good intentions, although their
measures always appeared to me to arise from want of
a comprehensive knowledge of human nature and society,
and from their supposing that violence and force could
effect any permanent good, while mind remained un-
converted.

In fact, my New View of Society, and its apphcation

ROBERT OWEN 293

to practice, imperfect as it was at New Lanark, had
aroused the dormant mind of the sectarian and sceptic
world to investigate a new mine of knowledge, which, if
followed through all its various ramifications, would
lead to an entire change in principle, spirit, and practice ;
but for such a radical change in thought and action,
when these changes were first openly and fully an-
nounced to the wondering world, now forty years ago, it
was not prepared. And it has required the constant
action of forty years upon the public mind of the civil-
ized world, to prepare it for this change, which ulti-
mately no power on earth can prevent or now much
retard.

This statement is thus confidently made, from a
thorough knowledge that the existing falsely based
system of societ)^ is permanently, in principle, spirit, and
practice, highly injurious to every one of every rank and
class, from the highest to the lowest, and from the most
learned to the most ignorant ; and that the proposed
truly based new system of society, for forming character,
creating wealth, reconstructing society, and governing
all the affairs of men, will ensure, without chance of
failure, the permanent well-being, weU-doing, and per-
petual progress in wealth, knowledge, wisdom, union,
and happiness, of the human race.

Perceiving these results, the best and most advanced
minds at home and abroad have been at once attracted
to the truth and inestimable value of the new system,
when I have had an opportunity of fully explaining it
to them. But they have, in many cases, said — " We
" do not see how it is to be introduced into practice."
Or, " It is too true, good, and beautiful to be adopted by
" the present ignorant, deceptions, and selfish population
" in all countries." Or, " The system which you ad-
" vocate, although true in principle, and however
" desirable, is, in the present state of society, im-
" practicable." — Or some such conclusion. While the
more advanced practical men were really desirous to
see the experiment carried into execution.

[See the subscriptions in Great Britain and Ireland for

294 THE LIFE OF

this object, and the letters of approbation of my views
for practice and the expressions of desire to see the new
system as I advocated it carried fairly into execution.]

But the period for the adoption of this advanced
phase in the liistory of humanity was not come.

To clear away the rubbish of prejudices, so deeply
implanted in aU minds by the errors of the existing false
and most baneful system for forming character and
governing the population of the world, required not only
the open decided pubhc attack which I had made upon
all the superstitions of the world, but a continued in-
cessant attack on the errors of the whole system, in prin-
ciple, spirit, and practice, for the forty years which have
elapsed since that ever memorable denunciation of this
undeveloped and misery-creating system was made.

And it is now only that these prejudices have been
sufficiently overcome in the advanced minds of the
world, to admit of the new and true system of society
being advocated, to produce a beneficial result for
practice upon the public.

I see by reference to my letters, that I attended a
public meeting with the first Sir Robert Peel, to prevent
if possible his son's measure, as chairman of the Bullion
committee, to return to cash payments.

Sir Robert was too much a man of business not to per-
ceive the gross injustice of this measure, and the great
I suffering it would inflict upon a large portion of the middle
and lower classes ; and seeing and knowing the certainty
of these results, he came to me in great agitation, to ask
me to go with him to the meeting, to endeavour to create
a public feehng against it, sufficiently strong to prevent
the evils which his then inexperienced son and those
friendly to his measures were about to bring upon the
country.

When will those called practical men learn that now,
were it not for the error of making gold and silver money,
and wealth private property, there would be no poverty
or fear of it ; but that all might, with health, ease, and
pleasure, superabound at all times without contest or
competition, in the use and enjoyment of the most

ROBERT OWEN 295

valuable wealth ; and that, too, by the most simple yet
beautiful surroundings, which will be gradually developed
as I proceed with my life.

At this meeting Sir Robert Peel the elder said, to show
the injustice of this measure, — " Its operation on society
" will be to double my property and the property of eill
** other capitalists ; while it will injure the operative
" producers and debtors in the same proportion, and,
' ' by its gradual operations of returning to cash payments
" will double the national debt, or, which is the same
" thing, will double the amount of real wealth which
" will be required to pay the interest of it."

I have seldom seen a man in public so excited by
strong affectionate feelings as Sir Robert Peel was on
this occasion, from the magnitude of the evil which he
foresaw his favourite son was about to bring upon the
most helpless portion of the population of his country.
He told the meeting, with a faltering voice and tears in
his eyes, that this was the first time there had been a
difference of opinion between him and his son Robert, —
who was afterwards the well-known Prime Minister, and
who, if he had lived, would have undone all which he had
erroneously done through Conservative association in
his younger and inexperienced life.

Visiting the father very often at his house in Upper
Grosvenor Street, especially from 1815 to 1820, I occa-
sionally met his son, who was then young in the ministry,
but without practical knowledge, yet full of Oxford
learning and injurious prejudices. The contrast at this
time between the practical knowledge of the father and
son was most obvious. But the natural talent of the
son, with his growing experience, led him by degrees to
overcome the many disadvantages of an Oxford forma-
tion of character, and especially that of commoners
with the nobiUty — both being much injured by the
assumption of the one and the submission of the other,
and also by the extent of false or useless learning, as it
is called, which is forced into the minds of all who are
educated at Oxford and Cambridge.

In the years 1817, '18, and '19, many public meetings

296 THE LIFE OF

were held to promote more or less directly the peculiar
measures which 1 recommended, and the new views in
principle which I advocated.

At the meetings held in '18 and '19, his Royal High-
ness the Duke of Kent usually presided as chairman,
assisted by his brother the Duke of Sussex, although the
latter was a decided Whig politician, and after the death
of the Duke of Kent, whose mind was too expanded
and independent to be limited within the bounds of party
politics, his brother became an out-and-out supporter of
the Whig party, and most faithful to it, from his desire
to give his aid to what he deemed to be the most liberal
practical party in his day.

The result of one of these public meetings, at which
the Duke of Kent presided, was to appoint a committee
to promote the views which I had publicly advocated
for the relief of the poor and to prevent poverty and
ignorance by national employment for useful purposes,
and by a good national education, or a right formation
of character. [See the proceedings and speeches ex-
planatory of the objects of these meetings, and of the
committee, as published in the newspapers at the time,
with the names of the committee, and of the sub-
scribers to the fund for carrying the plan proposed for
trial into practice.]

The interest produced in the metropolis, throughout
the two islands, and abroad was for a time intense
among all classes, and especially with the suffering classes.
The subject was debated in both Houses of Parliament,
and Lord Liverpool with several of his Cabmet were very
desirous that it should be fully investigated by Parlia-
ment. But this measure, so truly important for all
parties throughout the empire, was frustrated through
the means which I little anticipated.

Lord Lauderdale at this time was one of the most,
if not the most active and influential member of the
House of Peers. I had become a great favourite with
him, was often his visitor, and so much did he desire my
conversation and to listen to the explanation of my
views, that he ordered his servants always to say he was

ROBERT OWEN 297

at home when I called, and if he should be in bed at the
time, which was frequently the case, I was to be shown
to his bedroom ; and our conversations were sometimes
long continued while he lay talking and hstening to me.
This familiar intimacy continued for some time, until one
day he asked me how I intended to make my arrange-
ments to give education and useful constant employment
to all the poor and working classes.

I had now had engraved at a considerable expense a
beautiful picture of these proposed arrangements as
they appear when generally adopted, as I expected they
would be by the country, on account of the immense
improvement it would make in the condition of the poor
and working classes, and the still greater improvement
which would be produced by these new surroundings in
the condition of all classes.

I told his Lordship I would at my next visit bring him
one of these engravings, and would explain the whole
subject to him. This I did at our next meeting a few
days afterwards.

No intelligent unprejudiced mind could avoid being
struck with the simplicity, order, and arrangement of
this plan for the working classes, at that time as well as
now, to train their children for a new, higher, and much
superior state of earthly existence, and to enable these
children to be beneficial associates with the children of
all classes.

His Lordship was thus struck with the combination of
these proposed new surroundings, for training, educating,
and usefully employing the poor and working classes.
He examined it in silence for some time ; when he
suddenly exclaimed — " Oh ! I see it all ! Nothing
" can be more complete for the poor and working classes.
" But what will become of ms ? " meaning the aristocracy.

Lord Lauderdale had mind and penetration sufficient
to perceive how completely this plan would destroy
poverty, gradually instruct and elevate the working
class, and ultimately make them independent of the
upper classes and of the aristocracy. But he had not
the strength of mind and capacity to continue the in-

298 THE LIFE OF

vestigation to its necessary results, or he would have
discovered that in the most gradual and peaceable
manner his plan would have, in the most natural way in
which the change from a false and inferior to a true and
superior system can be made, immensely improved the
permanent condition of every class, and secured wisdom,
goodness, and happiness to the human race through
futurity.

Had Lord Lauderdale pursued the investigation to its
natural ultimate results, he would have perceived that
this change from evil to good can be effected only by a
rational formation of character from birth, and useful
employment or occupation through life, within surround-
ings made to be in accordance with the laws of humanity
or of man's natural constitution.

The subject of my new views was brought before the
two Houses by petitions to both, signed in its favour by
the nobility and gentry of the county of Lanark, of both
parties, by several of its presbyteries, and some of them
unanimously, by the members of the Universities of
Edinburgh and Glasgow, and by influential persons of
all parties in the county, to whom my proceedings and
experiment were well known.

In both Houses the motion that the petition should
be taken into consideration was moved and seconded by
a leading influential member from each of the two great
parties which then divided both Houses into ministerial-
ists and their opponents ; and an interesting debate took
place, for which see Hansard's Parhamentary Reports
and the London leading newspapers of that day.

In the House of Commons Mr. WiUiam Smith, the then
popular member for Norwich, took up the petition while
the subject was under debate in the House, and said —
" Mr. Speaker, I have been carefully examining this
" petition, and it is the most extraordinary petition I
" have ever seen presented to this House. It is signed
" by the leading members of the aristocracy, of the
" Church, the gentry, merchants, and manufacturers,
" and in fact by persons of all classes and sects in politics
" and religion, and I therefore, not having previously

ROBERT OWEN 299

" known anything of its contents, am at a loss to know
" what can induce these incongruous parties so numer-
" ously to sign this petition."

In the House of Lords it was evident that Lord
Liverpool and the leading members of his Cabinet were
favourable to the full investigation of the subject, and
the debate was taking that turn, when Lord Lauderdale
arose, and with marked emphasis in his manner and
tone of voice, said — " My Lords, I know Mr. Owen,
" and I have examined his plan for the relief of the work-
" ing classes, as he has published it to the world, and I
" now tell your Lordships, that if you countenance Mr.
" Owen and his new views, there is no government in
" Europe that can stand against them."

This declaration from a peer of the highest influence in
the House, decided the^course which Government must
take in both Houses, much to their regret, for they heartily
inchned to have the principles and plans which I had so
openly placed before the public, fairly tried under the
auspices of their administration.

In consequence of this speech of Lord Lauderdale's,
the speakers, both ministerial and their opponents, in
both Houses, made most compHmentary speeches in my
favour, and would not vote directly against my apph-
cation for full investigation into the measures which I
proposed, and the motion was lost in both Houses by a
motion to proceed to the order of the day.

This speech of Lord Lauderdale decided the question
for that period among the aristocracy, and of course
with all under their influence, which directly or indirectly
included all deemed fashionable or respectable.

To this period I had access to all the Ministers, and was
on friendly terms with the most influential of them. My
Essays on a New View of Society had been very popular,
and had passed rapidly through five superior editions ;
my Bill introduced into the House of Commons by the
first Sir Robert Peel for the relief of young children and
others employed in manufactories had greatly tended to
increase my popularity, and although by my open de-
nouncement of all the religions of the world as now taught,

300 THE LIFE OF

this was materially diminished with many, and par-
ticularly with all bigots having the contracted views of
their sectarian creeds, yet with superior minds at home
and abroad I found that that declaration had produced
the effects which I intended, to a far greater extent
than I had anticipated.

It was from this period that all the respectable book-
sellers were under the necessity to decline selling my
works, and that a strong undermining opposition com-
menced among sectarians of every creed, and among
small minds among all parties, to whom my views in
principle and practice were opposed.

Yet the truth and beauty of these views in principle,
and their promise of so many advantages in practice,
with my antecedents of actual practice at Manchester,
and now of twenty years at New Lanark, with my self-
sacrifice by my public declaration of there being too
much error in all the religions of the world to enable
them to make man good, wise, and happy, retained for
me a high place in the estimation of the more advanced
and independent minds, and a strong feeling of regard
and approbation by women of superior attainments and
goodness of dispositions in every rank of life.

My model of proposed new surroundings to give
education and permanent employment to the poor and
working classes continued to be visited by many persons
of high rank and distinction of both sexes, natives and
foreigners, and this year (1819) I was invited by the
ever-to-be-esteemed and honoured Mr. Coke, of high
agricultural fame, at Holkham, to his celebrated annual
sheep-shearing, and to accompany our mutual friend,
his Excellency Richard Rush, the then much respected
Ambassador in London from the United States. We
went together, were most hospitably received by Mr.
Coke, and during our stay of some days we received
especial marks of his attention, although his house was
hUed with visitors of the highest rank and liberal talent.

The superior Americans were great favourites with Mr.
Coke. We were at this time fifty guests in his house,
and about seven hundred of the leading friends to

ROBERT OWEN 301

agricultural improvements from every part of the
kingdom were invited, and were accommodated around
by his neighbours, and chiefly tenants of superior
standing for agricultural acquirements.

In the house with us v/ere the Duke of Sussex ; the
present Duke of Bedford, then Lord Tavistock ; Lord
Bradford ; Sir Francis Burdett ; Joseph Hume. M.P. ;
and many other M.P.'s., foreigners, and strangers, whose
names I have forgotten.

The order, arrangement, and harmony with which
this aggregation of so m.any guests within, and of im-
portant operations without, day after day, were con-
ducted with the kind attention of Mr. Coke to every one,
and his fine manly self-possession in directing and ex-
plaining to his visitors his agricultural experiments and
their successful progress, gained the hearts and ad-
miration of every one who had the pleasure of being
present at this last most interesting and extraordinary
exhibition and gathering of liberal men from all parts
of the kingdom and from abroad.

Mr. Coke was no ordinary man. He was a decided
honest Republican in principle, and no respecter of
persons merely on account of their rank. Upon this
occasion Mr. Rush and myself were especially noticed
by him during our visit, and he seemed to take pleasure
in giving us much of his confidence. He told us that
when he came into possession of the Holkham estate,
it was let at 3s. per acre. This price he thought
too low, and he required an advance of 2s. per acre.
The tenants said they could not afford to give 5s. per
acre for land so unproductive, and at this period the
county of Norfolk imported considerable quantities of
wheat. Mr. Coke told them that if they could not
afford to give 5s. an acre, he would take the estate into
his own hands, and would try what he could make of it.
And he told us he was then receiving 25s. an acre for the
whole estate, from farmers who had become wealthy
while paying that rent ; and that the income of the
estate had risen from a low figure when he came into
possession of it, to an income exceeding fifty thousand

302

THE LIFE OF

a year, and that through his aid and example Norfolk
exported large quantities of wheat ; proving how much
one man of earnest purpose can accomplish when his
powers are rightly directed.

Being accustomed in my own proceedings to great
order and systematic arrangement on an extensive scale,
I was yet surprised to witness the order and arrangement
of Mr. Coke's proceedings, day after day, on the present
occasion, when so many new measures required his
personal attention. I expressed to Mr. Coke my surprise
at seeing no hurry or confusion, while, in the most calm
and self-possessed state of mind, he attended day by
day to fifty visitors, several of them of high distinction,
within his house, and seven hundred during the day
who were out-visitors, but to whom also he was not
wanting in every required attention ; and I asked the
secret of this unique appearance in the management of
such varied and extensive operations.

He said — " I rise at five o'clock, and go into the office
" of Mr. Blackie, my steward, and there we quietly
" arrange the business for the day, and we take an early
" breakfast, during which the letters and papers by post
" are brought to me ; I examine my own, and attend to
" those which require immediate replies ; assort those
" for my guests in the house, who, as you see, breakfast
" punctually at nine o'clock, and while they are at
" breakfast, as you have witnessed, I bring in the letters
" and give to each his own." This he did, and while
going round the table he had something kind and ap-
propriate to say to every one, making no perceptible
distinction between royalty and the untitled.

Mr. Coke continued — " While I attend to you at break-
" fast time, the out-of-door business of the day is in
" active progress. First that for our attention after
" breakfast and during the morning, and while we are
" attending to this " (and every morning was fully
occupied, as well as every afternoon and evening)
" the business for the afternoon and evening is in pre-
" paration ; and so far you have seen no bustle and con-
" fusion ; and -by the same means I hope you will not

ROBERT OWEN 303

" perceive any to the end of these public proceedings ;
" for each day's operations have been considered, and
" as well foreseen as my experience and this establisb-
" ment will admit."

And so we found it, though on the third, the great and
last day of the public exhibition, all were yet more sur-
prised to see how he managed matters to get through
that multitudinous hard day's work. On this morning,
the first thing after breakfast was to examine the process
of flax-spinning on the lawn, by the peasantry of the
estate ; and an interesting sight it was to see so many
healthy, happy-looking faces so actively occupied in the
various processes of this domestic manufacture, and so
expert in every operation, clean in their dress and person,
and well conducted in manner, answering the questions
put to them with great propriety, without any appearance
of degrading servility, exhibiting an independence and
self-respect taught them by Mr. Coke's strong republican
principles.

I While this inspection was going on, the carriages and
I horses were preparing to take the company to see the
i results of the various improvements and new experiments
i made on several of his principal farms. The Duke of Sussex
and some of the older personages of distinction went with
him in an open barouche with four horses. About seven
hundred gentlemen and noted agriculturists were on
horseback. Mr. Coke had provided Mr. Rush and myself
with horses, and requested we would keep near him the
whole day. His practice on this occasion was to ride at
a good speed, heading the party, to the farm on which he
intended to show and explain the new improvements he
had lately made, or experiments in progress. When the
party had had time to examine the details of what had
been done or was doing, Mr. Coke formed the party into
a circle around him, and then, in a strong clear voice,
explained to those in the carriages and on horseback the
process which had been pursued, and the results, and
this he did on farm after farm, in a masterly manner
most satisfactorily to all present.

After thus examining the operations of several farms

304 THE LIFE OF

at some distance from each other, we were requested to
ahght and to enter a good-looking house on one of the
largest farms ; and in this house we found a sumptuous
luncheon prepared for the company, which surprised
many by its completeness in appearance and its sub-
stantial good qualities, and seemed to be enjoyed by all.

After thus again going from farm to farm, we had to
return homeward at good speed to dress for an early three
o'clock dinner. And this was the great day of this
unique festival and exhibition.

All the company were invited to dine in this extensive
and most hospitable mansion. It was said that on that
day seven hundred gentlemen of England, and some
foreigners, dined at tables at which all could see and hear
what was said and done ; for the prizes for the superior
inventions of all things for agricultural purposes, which
were brought there from all parts of the kingdom for
competition, were to be given by Mr. Coke to each in-
ventor or improver who had merited these prizes, so
liberally offered to all competitors.

It was also known that in addition to large quantities
of other wines and liquors, a pipe of port was drunk at
dinner.

The first business after the cloths were drawn was the
commencement of an arduous task for any one except
our host, whose constitution, talents, and self-possession
made extraordinary exertions apparently easy to him.

He had around him a number of distinguished guests,
accustomed to public speaking, and he seemed deter-
mined on this occasion to call their respective powers into
useful action. He began by giving an explanatory
statement of the more public and useful qualities of the
person whose health he intended to propose, commencing
with his Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, to whom,
for his professed liberal views and popular bearing, he
seemed much attached ; and this caused, as was an-
ticipated, a speech in reply.

In these preliminary comphmentary speeches by Mr.
Coke, he seemed quite at home, and was most happy in
his individual applications to each of his guests thus

ROBERT OWEN 305

called into especial notice. Among these were the
noblemen present, Sir Francis Burdett, Mr. Hume,
etc., etc., whose speeches were published afterwards in
some of the newspapers of the day.

Mr. Rush and myself were also thus noticed. Mr.
Rush, as Mr. Coke anticipated, made one of the most
telling and best speeches of the day, and it was well
received by the company. As to myself, I never could
make an after-dinner speech in which it was necessary
to speak of personal good qualities, for I had so often
published my conviction that our characters were before ^
and from birth formed for us and that there could not be
any personal merit or demerit, that I could not, con-
sistently with my well-known views on this subject, say
anything in after-dinner speeches satisfactory to myself,
nor, consequently, to others. I therefore avoided them
whenever it was practicable.

The healths and speech-making having concluded, Mr.
Coke had then to call up the parties entitled to receive
the prizes awarded to them. And calling up one by one,
he made most appropriate speeches to each on giving the
prizes, of which there were many, and several were given
to those living on his own estates.

Mr. Coke then invited the company to go and examine
the inventions for which the prizes had been awarded ;
and as these machines were various and numerous their
examination required explanation from their inventors,
and this occupied much of the time and attention of Mr.
Coke, who appeared to be everywhere to assist when
asked for his opinion or advice.

A painting was shown of my model of the proposed
new villages of union and co-operation for the poor to
give them employment and relief from poverty, or the
preliminary new surroundings by which to train all,
beginning with the lowest, for the rational or Millennial
State of Existence upon Earth. This painting was a
rough sketch, hastily executed on canvas, put on rollers,
and sent down to me from London.

When I was explaining it to the company, the Earl of
Albemarle, one of the guests, and a near neighbour to
20

3o6 THE LIFE OF

Mr. Coke, and who became the next year father-in-law to
Mr. Coke, asked me upon what scale it was drawn, but
no scale had been sent with it, as it was enlarged in all
its proportions from the model. I was therefore puzzled
for a reply, for I had no means there of knowing.

I mention this to show the necessity when anything
new, and especially when anything opposed to old
favoured notions, is brought forward, for great attention
to be given to meet every probable objection, even the
most frivolous.

After this examination of new inventions, the com-
pany returned to the house to tea, which was no sooner
over than we were invited to go to the actual sheep-
shearing, first to see the quality and condition of the
sheep, and then to witness the process of shearing them,
which was most skilfully done, upon sheep which at-
tracted great attention and much approbation from the
judges appointed to inspect them.

In all this, Mr. Coke was active and ready to answer all
the numerous questions put to him, either for information
or from curiosity, never appearing in the least hurried
or unwilling to attend to any one who desired to address
him, or inattentive to the suggestions of any experienced
parties seeking information wherever it could be obtained.

The evening was far advanced before this part of the
business was concluded and we were summoned home to
supper, and the company commenced this meal at eleven
o'clock. The party were not seated formally according
to rank or station, but promiscuously ; and it so hap-
pened that I sat next to Mr. Coke on his right, and as at
his request I had been near him the whole day, witnessing
his multifarious duties and his attentions to everything
as it came in regular succession, and seeing him now calm,
collected, and untired, after this unceasing action of body
and mind, I said to him, " I am truly surprised, after
•• seeing what you have passed through to-day, that you
"appear as though it had been an ordinary everyday
" proceeding."

He said in reply — " I am really so little tired, that 1
" could now begin the business oi the day over again."

ROBERT OWEN 307

He was now sixty-nine, and his constitution was
superior to most men's at forty. His habits were all
good, and his daily exercise well calculated to give and
to sustain such a constitution.

This was the last public day of this year's sheep-
shearing ; and events soon occurred afterwards to make
it the last sheep-shearing at Holkham.

The out-visitors now dispersed in all directions ; but
Mr. Coke detained his home guests some days longer to
enjoy relaxation and amusement, and quietly to see and
examine his well-conducted estate and immense private
establishment.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent had made an
engagement, as before stated, to come with the Duchess
and her infant to spend three months with mc at Brax-
field, to make himself fully master of the practical meas-
ures which I had adopted at New Lanark for new-forming
the character of the young from infancy, re-forming the
character of the adults, and new-governing the whole
population. And at this meeting the Duke of Sussex
and Mr. Coke agreed also to visit me in the spring for the
same object.

In consequence of these engagements I laid in an
additional quantity of choice wines, and made my other
arrangements suitable to provide for the expected dis-
tinguished guests.

So long as Prince Edward lived there was a strong
brotherly attachment between him and the Duke of
Sussex. Where one was, the other was generally present
on all public occasions, and in their private interviews
with parties on business.

These proposed visits were not destined to be made.
The sudden premature death of Prince Edward and the
unexpected marriage of Mr. Coke, were the causes which
deprived me of the pleasure of the association with some
of the foremost and best minds in their station of those
days, and of the immediate benefit which the rational
social system of society would have derived from such
minds seeing its preliminary practice to be so effective
for good even while opposed by so many prejudices of

3o8 THE LIFE OF

the old system, and carried into execution under the
many disadvantages of a cotton-mill establishment.
The effect of the happiness produced in the entire popu-
lation, and the new character formed for the children
at that establishment, could not have failed to make
an impression on those minds, which, through their
independent instrumentality would have fixed public
attention upon such new and important facts, and would
have given great facilities to the spread over the civilized
world of the knowledge of the principles and practices
which could produce such extraordinary beneficial and
happy results ; and more especially as Lord Liverpool's
administration, then in power, was most favourable to
my views, although not m sufficient power to contend
against the Church and the most bigoted and least in-
formed of the public.

No — that system which, in spirit, principle, and prac-
rice, is to introduce and estabhsh the Millennial state of
goodness and happiness upon earth, was not to be
introduced and established by the patronage of persons
of rank and station. These could not give stabihty to
falsehood or error, or to any system based on either.
While truth, which can withstand the test, and ultimately
resist all power opposed to it, requires no patronage
of persons nor any factitious aid. Truth, to be per-
manent, must stand alone on its own foundation. If it
needs the aid of names, it is not that unchanging eternal
truth which is ultimately to control the human mind,
and to govern the population of the world through future
ages.

This is that truth which the nations of the earth now
seek, and which by seeking they will assuredly find.
It is that truth which, when fully understood and con-
sistently applied in practice, will make all to become
good, wise, and happy. And such is this GREAT TRUTH
" That the character of man, divine and human, is
" formed for him without his knowledge, and may now
" be well formed from birth for all."

This truth requires no name for its support. All facts
declare it. The whole history of man sustains and con-

ROBERT OWEN 309

firms it. And it will overcome all the prejudices estab-
lished against it through the ages which have passed.
It is that glorious truth which ,will set the nations free,
and will secure the future happiness of our race.

The new system of society for the re-forming of man
and reconstruction of society over the world, was not to
be patronized by rank or station, or by any name what-
ever. Its tnith of principle and inestimable value for
practice are to estabhsh and maintain it over the earth,
overcoming every prejudice and all kinds of opposition.
In fact, it was far above and beyond the reach of patron-
age. I was, however, at the time greatly disappointed
to be deprived of the familiar society of men so friendly
to my views, for whom I had the greatest regard and
esteem, and from whom at that period I had anticipated
much assistance in promoting my great object of securing
the permanent progress and happiness of the human
race.

I have said that after the third public day the guests of
Mr. Coke were incHned for relaxation from serious business
and to amuse themselves.

The Duke of Sussex was at this period Grand Master of
the Freemasons of England, and it was proposed that he
should hold a lodge, and should make members of those
who were not already masons. A party came to me to
request my name to their hst. I said I had always avoided
becoming a member of any society for amusement, which
I imagined was now the chief object of Freemasonry.
I had hitherto dechned being made a member, and
requested now to be excused. The parties said, as it
was a harmless society, and tended to create good
fellowship and humanity among the members, they
would be much pleased if I would consent to be made a
member with them. I said if there was nothing ridi-
culous in the process, I would not resist their wishes.
The Duke of Sussex was very frequently present with the
Duke of Kent when he came to me, and more frequently
when I visited the latter at Kensington Palace, and was
therefore well acquainted with my views and objects.
When he was told by the parties who came to me that

310 THE LIFE OF

they had obtained my consent to have my name added
to the hst for new membership, he said — " No, by all
" that is good, were he ta witness our ceremonies he would
" make us all to appear fools. His objects are of a
" character too serious and extended for him to be
" occupied with our trifhng amusements." So I escaped
being let into the secrets of Freemasonry.

My duties now called me to the metropolis, to attend
to the Factory Bill then in the House of Lords ; to
watch Sir William De Crespigny's motion in the House
of Commons to take my subject into its consideration,
and to attend to the public meeting which I had called,
to be held in the Freemasons' Tavern, and to be presided
over by his Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, and also
to attend to explain my model of proposed new sur-
roundings for the poor and working classes who could
not themselves find employment.

These occupations, and superintending the establish-
ment at New Lanark by directions to the heads of the
various departments by correspondence, occupied my
time daily from early to late. The public meetings are
recorded in the published accounts in the newspapers of
the time, and the proceedings in both Houses of Parlia-
ment on my petition for my New View to undergo
parhamentary investigation, are given in Hansard's
Parliamentary Proceedings, and also the progress of
both Houses in spoiUng my Factory Bill for the relief of
children and others employed most injuriously as to age
and time in cotton and other factories over the two
islands.

In addition, I had to attend the committee appointed
at the public meeting to promote my objects, — a com-
mittee of which his Royal Highness the Duke of Kent was
chairman, and who was the most punctual attendant of
all its members. The committee consisted of a long list
of the most prominent liberal noblemen and gentlemen,
chiefly members of both Houses of Parliament, and of the
principal foreign ministers resident in London, as will
be seen on referring to the published list of their
names.

ROBERT OWEN 311

But yet to add to these varied occupations, I was under
the following circumstances induced to offer myself a
candidate to represent in the House of Commons tiie
Royal Burghs of Lanark, Selkirk, Peebles, and Linlitli-
gow.

At the previous General Election I published an address
to the electors of those burghs, which I published merely
for a model address, such as I deemed all candidates for
membership in the House of Commons ought to issue,
if they intended to benefit their constituents and their
country. [See this advertisement in the newspapers of
that period.]

But not supposing I had any chance of succeeding, not
having any intention of canvassing burghs, or of being
a candidate, I thought no more of it, and continued to
attend the parliamentary committees on the Factory
Bill, as it was strongly opposed, and often by the most
unfair means, bj' almost all the cotton-spinners and
manufacturers in the kingdom, except Messrs. Ark-
wright, the Strutts, and the Fieldens.

I neither visited nor wrote to nor communicated in
any manner with one of the burghs, and the thought
of being a candidate in reahty never entered my
mind.

To my surprise, on my return home some weeks
afterwards, I learned that the burghs had been kept
open for me for a fortnight after my advertisement
appeared in the London daily papers, and that if I had
returned home during that period, I should have been
elected free of cost. This was news which took me by
surprise, and I regretted my want of this knowledge at
the proper time.

But now, while occupied in London as previously men-
tioned I was informed of the demise of Sir John Buchanan
Riddle, who had become member at the last election,
and the circumstances just narrated induced me at
once to issue an advertisement, and could I have
proceeded immediately, my success would have been
certain. But I was so continually engaged day by
day with attending to the multiplied engagements of

312 THE LIFE OF

important business, that I was under the necessity of
neglecting either the more immediate pubHc business,
or my apparent private interest in canvassing the burghs,
although my views in becoming an M.P. were solely to
promote great public measures for the permanent benefit
of all classes, and especially of the unemployed and
uneducated classes. It was at this period, too, I see by
documents which have come into my hands, that I had
to attend to the Leeds party, who sent deputies to New
Lanark to examine and report the result of their in-
vestigation— a subject which I have previously men-
tioned, and more details of which will be given in the
volume of my correspondence, in the letters of the
Mayor of Leeds (Mr. George Banks), Mr. Baines, Mr.
Cawood, and Mr. Robert Oastler, and in the published
report of the deputies who were the three last-named
gentlemen, all men of high standing for integrity.

From Leeds I proceeded towards home ; but I had to
make many caDs of interest on my journey. Mail coaches
were now general, and in these I usually travelled on my
journeys from Scotland to and from London. On one
of these journeys, about this period, I was travelling
from London to the North, and was the only inside
passenger in the coach when it arrived at Newark, where
horses were changed ; and while this process was going
on, both doors of the mail coach were at the same time
opened, and a gentleman came in on each side, and they
commenced a conversation together. The countenance
of one of them immediately impressed me that I had an
intelligent and interesting companion, who was seated
opposite to me. The strangers sat together, and as
they immediately entered into a conversation upon
general topics of the day, I concluded they were friends
who were travelling together. Their conversation con-
tinued for some time, when one said something to my
supposed intelligent companion, who was opposite to me,
which induced him to say — " Why that is Owenism !
" Who would ever think of anything so absurd ? "
At this I opened my ears, and I heard this subject can-
vassed between them, and I soon found that the intelli-

ROBERT OWEN 313

gent opponent knew little of Owenism, as he called the
notions which he had received of it.

I then said to him — " Pray what is this Owenism about
" which you are conversing ? " My intelligent com-
panion very readily replied, stating the usual mistakes
given to the public by those who thought they had an
interest in opposing my views, or who had not sufficient
capacity to comprehend them. I listened as a stranger
to the full explanation of his received ideas upon the
subject, and they were truly absurd ; enough so to call
forth his first exclamation against Owenism.

When he concluded, I said — " I must be quite in
" error upon this subject, for my ideas of it are very
" different from those you have just stated." " Then,"
he said, " will you have the kindness to explain your
" views of it ? " I said, " Willingly," — and I entered
fully into its principles and practices, and these we
discussed with animation and interest for nearly three
hours, when at last he said, " I am sure you are Spence "
(the advocate at that time of an equal division of land),
" or else Owen."

I then told him who I was, and while we pursued
our journey our conversation continued with increasing
interest, when, previous to our arrival at Heworth, he
said — " I am a barrister returning from the Circuit, and
" I am going to visit my brother and his family, who live
" a few miles from Newcastle, and you must come and
" visit them. I will promise you a hearty welcome and
" a pleasant party." I thanked him and said I would
endeavour, on some of my journeys from Scotland to
London, to accept his kind offer.

I thought the invitation was a momentary travelling
impulse, such as are sometimes acted upon and as soon
repented of. But he continued urging his request until
our arrival at Newcastle, where he stopped at his usual
hotel, and the mail drove on to another, where the
passengers were accustomed to have supper.

While we were eating our supper, in came my newly
found friend, and he seemed so earnest and anxious that
I should remain there all night, and should go with him

314 THE LIFE OF

to his brother's in the morning, that I at length yielded
to his solicitations. This was then Mr. Charles Grey,
since Sir Charles Grey, and late Governor of Jamaica ;
a man as much equal to that task as governors of colonies
usually are, and only some very untoward circumstances
could prevent his success. I made the visit with him
next morning, and it proved all he had promised, to its
full extent ; and I was detained two or three days.

On proceeding afterwards from Newcastle to Carlisle,
I had to call upon Lord Brougham (then well known as
Henry Brougham), who had interested himself in in-
vestigating my views, and who often endeavoured to
have them investigated in Parliament.

Mentioning Lord Brougham reminds me of an amusing
occurrence which happened to me some time afterwards
on one of my journeys from London to Scotland. I was
in the mail coach alone on one occasion, when it stopped
to change horses at Macclesfield, and while it stopped (it
was a fine warm day) a gentleman in evening dress
mounted the box, looking at me as he passed to get up.
He said something to the coachman, and he soon came
down again, and entered the coach. In the meantime a
crowd was collecting around the coach, and there was
much stir without. No sooner had the gentleman seated
himself, than he said — " I am very happy, my Lord, to
" meet you again so soon," I was a little surprised with
my new title, and replied — " You are under some mis-
" take. Whom do you take me for ? " " Lord
" Brougham." " You are indeed in error. I have no
" such claim." " Oh," he said, " your Lordship wishes
" to travel incognito." " You are really mistaken," I
replied. " That cannot be," he rejoined, " for I dined
"with your Lordship only three weeks since"; and I
could not convince this positive gentleman of his mistake.

He had told the coachman not to proceed until he
returned to him, and during this period the crowd
around the coach continually increased, all eager to catch
a sight of my Lord Brougham ; and as no one was there
to undeceive them, they were as much pleased and
gratified as though they had seen the true Lord himself,

ROBERT OWEN 315

and when the coach started, I was greeted with the hurras
of the wondering people, who had, as they supposed,
seen a Lord, and that Lord, Lord Brougham.

Such were the people at that day. They are now
become somewhat wiser.

While I was busily engaged in attending to the
parliamentary committee and to other public matters
in London, I received intelligence from New Lanark that
one of the four large cotton-mills had been burned, and
all engaged in it were by this accident thrown out of
employment. I had immediately to make arrangements
to give them occupation, without their being obhged to
seek work elsewhere, and to leave the establishment,
which to them, from the happiness they now experienced,
would have appeared the greatest of misfortunes. I
gave the necessary instructions for this purpose, and as
soon as I could leave the public matters in which I was
engaged, I returned home to see my instructions carried
fully into execution, and not one left the establishment on
account of this accident, which, when it occurred, created
in those who were employed in that department of the
establishment the greatest distress and sad forebodings
of what would become of them.

This fire occurred at the end of November 1819, and
I left London after my last personal communication with
the Duke of Kent, my tried friend and best disciple, and
of whose death after my return home I was so soon
informed.

Little did I then anticipate, that after regretting his
death for more than thirty years, his good and kind and
enlightened spirit should take the first opportunity that
a medium for such communications offered, to communi-
cate with me and to give me information of deep interest
and most important for me to know. And to come in
his so well-known character to me, and with his usual
kindness and consideration for others, in whose well-
doing and well-being he continued to occupy himself,
exhibiting the same affection and friendship for them,
which he so strongly possessed when in his earthly form
upon the earth.

3i6 THE LTFE OF

His whole spirit proceeding with me has been most
beautiful ; making his own appointments ; meeting me
on the day, hour, and minute he named ; and never in
one instance (and these appointments were numerous as
long as I had mediums near me upon whom I could
depend) has this spirit not been punctual to the minute
■+" he had named.

The unwisely taught, and therefore strongly prejudiced
against these new manifestations, cannot believe in their
reality, and I greatly pity them. They know not the
pleasure and the knowledge which they lose. Some of
the most gratifjnng and satisfying moments of my exist-
ence have been when in direct communication with my
departed relatives and friends since they left their earthly
forms in their graves. These and congenial spirits are
now actively engaged in preparing the population of the
world for the greatest of all changes in the history of
humanity while on the earth in its visible form. And
they smile at the puny efforts of the poor mistaught of
the present generation to stay their progress in this
heavenly work.

Man, through all the ages which are past, has been
created to desire happiness without ceasing. The desire
is to-day as strong as ever ; and the period rapidly
approaches when that desire will be gratified to an extent
not yet to be imagined by unregenerated man. But of
this more hereafter.

Hastening my departure from the public business
which engaged my attention in London, I arrived at
home about the middle of December, and was occupied
for some time in completing the new required arrange-
ments consequent on the burning of the mill, so as to give
useful and productive employment to all who were
thrown idle by that event. This occupied me for some
weeks, and the election for the burghs, for which I had
declared myself a candidate, being fixed to take place
soon after this, I had, after giving the candidates opp6sed
to me all the benefit of a long first canvass, to visit the
burghs, and see what chance remained for me.

J found that through my delay in London, four of the

ROBERT OWEN 317

Old Lanark voters upon whom I had every reason to
depend, had, by being feasted, kept intoxicated, and by
other means known at this time to most candidates,
been bnbed over to my opponent, and by this very
unexpected proceeding I discovered this majority of four
would be against me, and Lanark was the returning
burgh.

On my canvass in the other burghs, in which I was
kindly assisted by my good friend Admiral Sir Robert
Otway, we found Selkirk and Peebles positively engaged
to Mr. Monteith, my friendly opponent, and that
Linlithgow had declared for me. I thus knew that I
should lose the election by my four turn-coat Lanark
voters ; but with twenty to one I was the popular can-
didate with the people, and much were they disappointed
at the result. It was, however, a fortunate result ; for
my proceedings with the two committees of the Houses
of Parliament, and with the general members of both
Houses, made it more than doubtful that my time as a
member would have been much misemployed. [For
these election proceedings see my correspondence with
my family, with Mr. Boyd, the Mayor of Linlithgow,
and Lords Liverpool and Melville.] I may add that
while I was a candidate, Sir Robert Peel, the late Premier,
wrote to me for my support of the Government, expecting
my election to be certain.

As an indication of the feehngs of the inhabitants of
the town of Old Lanark at this period, after I had been
more than twenty years their near and always active
neighbour, see their invitation to a public dinner previous
to the election. See also the letters from the magistrates
and town council of the burgh of Linhthgow, in addition
to the Mayor's ; and it must be remembered that I
made it a condition that not one shilling should be
expended for me to bribe one voter in either of the burghs.
When this election was over, wliich I lost by four voters,
who had promised me their votes, but who were bribed
to break their promise, I was during the spring, summer,
and autumn overwhelmed with visitors to see the
establishment, and among these many of high con-

3i8^ THE LIFE OF

sideration at home and abroad, from all of whom, and I
do not know one exception, their expressions were
of wonder and delight, in seeing that which they never
expected to witness on earth — a large promiscuous popu-
lation of workpeople happy and highly contented, and
their children's characters formed for them better than
the character of the children of the same age had ever
been formed ; for it had been formed on the principle of
charity and love and kindness, without punishment.

Affection for each other, and affection and esteem for
their instructors, were deeply imbedded in the mind and
feelings of these children, and they were, during the whole
period of their instruction, the most innocent and happy
children yet made under any system ever yet attempted,
by which to form the character of humanity.

The precept or principle of action taught to them from
their first day's entrance into the school (" that they
" should always endeavour to make each other happy "),
the youngest infant easily conceived, and wa^ as easily
induced, by the example of those previously so in-
structed, to apply the precept to undeviating practice.
And this principle and practice might with incalculable
benefit to all of our race be so deeply impressed at this
early period on all infants, that it would become a habit
never to be forgotten or unused in the everyday trans-
actions of life.

This experiment with the children of all the population
of New Lanark cannot be estimated too highly by the
advanced minds of the age in all countries ; for it at once
opens the path by which all from their birth may have
the divine parts of their nature so cultivated by their
immediate predecessors, that all shall acquire good habits
only, and a character as good as the divine parts of each
and the existing knowledge of humanity will admit ;
and these now united in the training, education, employ-
ing, placing, and governing of each (for all these enter
into the formation of the character of every one) will
produce such a change in the condition of society and
of humanity, as can be expressed only by a change from
a pandemonium to a paradise.

ROBERT OWEN 3I9

Let the authorities of this age now turn their attention
to this subject, and they will discover that they have
attained the knowledge of a moral lever by which they
can with ease remove ignorance, poverty, disunion, vice,
crime, evil passions, and misery, from mankind. Place
the human race from birth within superior spiritual and
material surroundings, and the evils and sufferings of
humanity will be no longer experienced, and will be
retained on record only to enhance the pleasures of this
new existence for man.

The arrangements to well-form the character of each
will of necessity include the entire arrangements to well-
form and conduct society ; for there can be no part of I
society which does not enter into the formation of the I
character of every one.

That which I introduced as new in forming the
character of the children of the working class may be
thus stated —

1st. — No scolding or punishment of the children.

2nd. — Unceasing kindness in tone, look, word, and
action, to all the children without exception, by every
teacher employed, so as to create a real affection and
full confidence between the teachers and the taught.

3rd. — Instruction by the inspection of realities and
their qualities, and these explained by familiar con-
versations between the teachers and the taught, and the
latter always allowed to ask their own questions for
explanations or additional information.

4th. — ^These questions to be always answered in a kind
and rational manner ; and when beyond the teacher's
knowledge, which often happened, the want of know-
ledge on that subject was at once to be fully admitted,
so as never to lead the young mind into error.

5th. — No regular indoor hours for school ; but the
teachers to discover when the minds of the taught, or
their own minds, commenced to be fatigued by the indoor
lesson, and then to change it for out-of-door physical
exercise in good weather ; or in bad weather for physical
exercise under cover, or exercises in music.

6th. — In addition to music, the children of these work-

320 THE LIFE OF

people were taught and exercised in military discipline,
to teach them habits of order, obedience, and exactness,
to improve their health and carriage, and to prepare
them at the best time, in the best manner, when re-
quired, to defend their country at the least expense and
trouble to themselves.

They were taught to dance, and to dance well, so as
to improve their appearance, manner, and health. I
found by experience that for both sexes the military dis-
cipline, dancing, and music, properly taught and con-
ducted, were powerful means to form a good, rational,
and happy character ; and they should form part of the
instruction and exercise in every rationally formed and
conducted seminary for the formation of character.
They form an essential part of the surroundings to give
good and superior influences to the infants, children, and
youth, as they grow towards maturity.

7th. — But these exercises to be continued no longer
than they were useful and could be beneficially enjoyed
by the taught. On the first indications of lassitude, to
return to their indoor mental lessons, for which their
physical exercises had prepared them, and to which, if
properly conducted, they will always return with re-
newed pleasure. And to receive physical or mental
exercise and instruction may always be made to be
highly gratifying to the children, when they are rationally
treated.

8th. — To take the children out to become familiar
with the productions of gardens, orchards, fields, and
woods, and with the domestic animals and natural history
generally, is an essential part of the instruction to be
given to the children of the working classes ; and this
was the practice in my time with the children at New
Lanark.

9th. — It was quite new to train the children of the
working class to think and act rationally, and to acquire
substantial knowledge which might be useful to them
through after life.

loth. — It was quite new to place the child of the
working man within surroundings superior to those of

ROBERT OWEN ( 321

the children of any class, as was done in a remarkable
manner at New Lanark, by placing them during the day
in the first and best institution for the formation of
the character of the children of workpeople ever thought
of or executed.

But it must be yet some time before these new prac-
tical proceedings for the children of the producers of
wealth can be duly appreciated, or their importance for
the advancement and permanent benefit of society can
be comprehended.
It is however time to return to my narrative.
In 1819 another panic occurred in the commercial
world, arising from the effects of the proceedings of the
Bullion Committee of the House of Commons, under the
late Sir Robert Peel as chairman.

These men knew no more than infants what they were
legislating about, and had no knowledge of the amount
of most unnecessary misery and severe suffering which
they by their ignorance were about to inflict upon
millions of their fellow-subjects over the British
Empire.

\ This was the second panic which they produced, to be
followed by one yet much more severe in 1825, and to be
succeeded at intervals by others, until this absurd
artificial monetary system of gold and silver shall be
abolished, and the human powers, aided by science,
shall be set free to produce wealth unfettered by the folly
of statesmen and legislators. .

Such was the distress in 1819, produced artificially,
that thousands upon thousands of the working classes
were out of work and starving, and the smaller trades-
men were involved in ruin as they always are when the
working class is unemployed.

At this time many active young men between twenty , ^
and thirty years of age came to seek employment from
me, and would willingly have accepted four or five shillings
per week for their services. But our establishment was
always fully supplied with our stationary population,
who were continued by me without an}' diminution of
their wages for twenty- five years.
21

322 THE LIFE OF

Among other districts over the kingdom, the county
of Lanark suffered from a great surplus of unemployed
workpeople, and it having been noticed that there was
no distress or complaint among this population of New
Lanark. and that there had not been any for twenty years,
I was called upon at a great meeting of the county of
Lanark, to express my opinion as to the cause, and to
point out an effectual cure for this now felt to be a great
evil threatening the prosperity and peace of the kingdom.

In obedience to this request of the county I made a
report explanatory of the causes of distress, and included
a statement of the means by which a permanent remedy
for the want of emplo5anent might be beneficially intro-
duced, by society being reconstructed and rationally
arranged. And in this report, for the first tiirie, I ex-
plained the science of constructing a rational system of
society for forming the character and governing human
nature beneficially for all of our race.

It was from this report that Fourier obtained all his
knowledge respecting the formation of a society limited
in number to form a practical community ; but not
knowing the true foundation on which to base society,
he made a confused medley of old and new notions,
which never can be combined to work permanently
together with harmony.

A knowledge of this scientific development of society
was forced upon me by thirty years of extensive practice
through various departments of the business of real life,
and by much study to overcome the many obstacles
which stood in the way of combining a scientific arrange-
ment of society to prevent the innumerable evils inflicted
by error on the human race.

The report thus presented to the public meeting of
the county of Lanark, the late Duke of Hamilton, Lord-
Lieutenant of the County, presiding, and reported upon
by six of the leading members of the county (see in the
Appendix this report and the official proceedings of these
county meetings respecting them), was the first publi-
cation ever given to the world which explained, even in
outline, the circle of the practical science of society to

ROBERT OWEN 323

form a good and superior character for all, to produce
abundance of superior wealth for ail, to unite all as
members of one superior enlightened family, and to sur-
round the human race with superior physical and mental
conditions, or with surroundings to call forth and highly
educate all the superior faculties of humanity, and to
place all the animal propensities of our nature in their
healthy and beneficial subjection to the higher organs,
qualities, and powers, so as to make man in the aggregate
physically and mentally healthy, good, wise, consistent,
rational, and happy.

But when this report was first given to the world, in
1820, the world was quite unprepared to receive or to
comprehend such a circle of scientific principles and
practices, to work together in harmony to produce
health, wealth, unity, wisdom, goodness, and happiness,
for all.

Even now, after a lapse of thirty-seven years of con-
tinual instruction against old deep-rooted errors and
habits, society is scarcely prepared to believe in the
possibility of the attainment of so much unity, wisdom,
goodness, and happiness, for all humanity. Men have
hitherto been trained, educated, and placed only within
the shell of individual ignorance and habits and have yet
but little clear conception of litiiversal truths, or of the
immense new powers to be derived from the united mind
and action of our race, directed by wisdom and sound
practical knowledge, in the pure spirit of love and charity
for the artificial and educated differences of all of human-
kind.

The glorious period when this spirit and this knowledge
shall universally prevail is near at hand, and now
approaches with giant strides.

Let these high considerations now open the hearts and
expand the minds of aU to receive and understand these
great truths, and to perceive with how much ease, when
once in the right path, the population of this globe may
be made superior, physically and mentally, and may be
trained and placed so as to enable them aU by the exercise
of their rational faculties to become by degrees, after one

324

THE LIFE OF

or two preparatory generations, superior rational beings,
compared with any of the existing races of men.

It was in this year when all things were rapidly pro-
gressing, day by day, at New Lanark, the people highly
satisfied, and their children the best and happiest of
human beings, that one of my partners, William Allen,
returned from the continent of Europe, where he had
come personally into communication with the Emperor
Alexander of Russia and with some other crowned heads,
which turned his head into a wrong channel for useful-
ness. His mind was limited to Quaker prejudices and
the Lancastrian system of defective education, which
I had materially assisted to make what it was, but the
limited minds and religious prejudices of Lancaster's
committee would not allow it to proceed further, and
William Allen in particular thought this small step the
perfection of education.

On his return he wished to depreciate all my pro-
ceedings, because I had denounced so publicly all the
superstitions and false religions of the world ; and he
began to sow the seeds of disunion between the popular
religions of my partners and my more expanded views
of the true religion in practice.

He recommended the abandonment of my mode (to
this period so eminently ^ccessful in forming a superior
and happy character for all the children in New Lanark,
and which had contributed so much to improve it and
to make their parents happy and highly satisfied with
their condition and position), for his petty Quaker notions
and his supposed superior benefits to be derived from
religion and by superseding my liberal modes of natural
instruction, by his restricted small ideas of a Quaker
education, without music, dancing, or military discipline,
all so essential to form a good and superior rational
character.

For some time I paid little attention to his crude and
prejudiced notions, and I proceeded in my usual course
for two or three years ; but finding his pretensions to
great sanctity and a tender conscience about music,
dancing, and military exercises, I gradually perceived the

ROBERT OWEN 325

necessity for a separation at no distant day, and in a few
years this took place.

In the interim I proceeded in my usual course to for-
ward by all the means in my power the great object of
my life, the improvement of the condition of humanity,
without distinction of colour, country, class, or creed ;
knowing that a part could never be permanently bene-
fited except through measures that would secure the
happiness of all tlirough future ages.

In the early part of this year, 1820, I was deprived of
the aid of his Royal Highness the Duke of Kent, as I
have previously stated, by his sudden premature death.

But from the magistrates and inhabitants of the
burghs of Lanark and Linlithgow I received much com-
plimentary notice (see their letters), to compensate me
for the Idss of my election for these and their two con-
nected burghs of Selkirk and Peebles ; an election lost
to me by four votes only, — and votes which had been
promised to me, but which were bribed by my opponents,
while I had positively declined to bribe a single voter.

In my canvass on this occasion I was accompanied and
much assisted by Admiral Sir Robert Otway, who was
much interested for my success.

Had I succeeded and taken my seat in the House of
Commons, I do not know that my ultimate success would
have been advanced by it ; for society at that time was
not sufficiently prepared for so great a change as I have
always contemplated. Yet many efforts were made by
many friends of my views to bring them into notice and
practice, and considerable progress was made in keeping
the subject before the public ; but the loss of my earnest
and devoted and most valued friend and patron, his
Royal Highness Prince Edward, to the cause I had under-
taken, could not be replaced by any other party, and
checked for some time the rapid progress which my
new views were making, notwithstanding the great
obstacle which I had made to retard their progress, by
my so public denouncement of all the superstitions of
the world, each falsely called by its supporters " the true
"religion."

326 THE LIFE OF

But this depression was only of short duration. My
official report called for by the county of Lanark a few
months after the death of the Royal Duke, and the
public measures taken thereon, again aroused public
attention to the consideration of the subject ; and after
this report, with the report of the committee appointed
by the county to examine and report upon it, had been
published and widely circulated at home and abroad, the
subject again became popular, and during the years
'20, '21, '22, and '23 especially excited in England,
Scotland, Ireland, on the continent of Europe, and in
the United States, an intense interest, and which, al-
though with less prominent intensity, has been to this
day working in all directions through the public mind of
the world, until it has now, in all reflecting, sound thinking
minds, utterly destroyed all faith or belief in the untenable
foundation on which all society has been constructed,
or in the possibility that it can ever produce a consistent
or rational character, unity, prosperity, and happiness,
among any portion of the human race, divided and
separated as they now are by ignorant and superstitious
notions, creating universal repulsive feelings between
man and man and nation and nation.

In proof of the great interest felt at this period in
favour of my New View of Society see the proceed-
ings of the county of Lanark to petition both Houses of
Parliament to take the subject into their most grave con-
sideration— petitions signed, as no other petitions have
since been signed, by the leading noblemen, gentlemen,
and freeholders of both political parties, the two uni-
versities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, some entire Pres-
byteries, and most of the clergy, all being long well-
acquainted with the extraordinary beneficial results
produced at New Lanark by the consistent application
to practice of the principles which I so publicly
advocated.

Perhaps no evidence could be stronger in favour of
new principles and their practices, directly opposed to
all popular prejudices, than here so numerously and
generally signed petitions by all the contending parties

ROBERT OWEN 327

in churches and State throughout this most learned,
wealthy, and populous county in Scotland.

It was when these petitions were presented, and were
evidently favoured by Lord Liverpool's administration,
that to prevent their probable adoption. Lord Lauder-
dale made his celebrated telling speech, to stop the
progress of the petition to the House of Peers.

When he rose in his place, after perceiving that Lord
Liverpool was inclined to favour the petition, he said,
with most marked emphasis, — " My Lords, I know Mr.
" Owen well ; and I know his plans ; having studied them
" for some time. And I can assure your Lordships
" that if you give any countenance to Mr. Owen and his
" plans, no government in Europe can stand against
" them."

This decided the fate of the petitions in both Houses,
and in both the previous question was moved. And
although I have petitioned both Houses session after
session to take this subject into their consideration, and
although it is the most important that can ever be brought
before them, yet to this day they have, civilly, it is
true, declined to do so.

But it was otherwise with the public at home and
abroad. Our home nobility and men and women of
superior acquirements and reflecting minds, and foreign-
ers of high positions, came to New Lanark in increasing
numbers and with increased desire to investigate the
principles and practice by which it was governed. The
French Academy voted me their thanks for my report
to the county of Lanark, which was translated, with my
Essays on the Formation of Character, into French
and German ; and great excitement was made throughout
Europe by that report and the petitions respecting it by
the county to which it was presented. [See the various
documents given on these matters in the Appendix.
It will be seen from them that no one could have been
more flattered than I was during this period by these
private and pubhc proceedings, showing how strongly
human nature desires truth in principle and equal justice
in practice.]

328 THE LIFE OF

The report which excited all this interest was perhaps
the first pubhcation that ever gave a fuU view of society
in its whole extent, including every department of real
life necessary for the happiness of our race. It was the
first time that the outUnes of a science of society were
given to the world, and the reasons explained for each
part in this new combination ; and it was after the cir-
culation of this report that the imaginative Fourier
imagined his notions for forming a practical community
society, mixing old and new principles and practices,
which never can continue long to work together.

The reason why this official report of mine to the
county of Lanark excited so much general interest was
because I commenced at the foundation of society, and,
without regard to any existing popular prejudices, ex-
plained in simple, open, and direct terms, the several
parts forming the entire circle of human requirements to
form a full science of society, to attain and maintain
perpetual prosperity, unity, and happiness.

It is now only, however, that the advanced minds of
the age begin to comprehend so new a state of human
existence ; and even yet there are but few so far de-
veloped as to be enabled to encompass and compare two
totally different systems for forming the character of, and
governing, mankind ; S3'stems based on opposing prin-
ciples and practices, antagonistic to each other in spirit
and in the whole arrangements of the business of life.

How many have yet been trained and educated to
venture upon such an investigation ? How many minds
are now unfettered to enter upon it without prejudice in
favour of the old false and evil system, or unprejudiced
against the new, tru€, and good system for the govern-
ment of mankind ?

And yet the old, of necessity, leads to a pande-
monium ; while the new leads direct to a perpetual
paradise on earth, — to the true practical Millennial state
of human existence.

The one has created and maintained individual selfish-
ness, which, in spirit, principle, and practice, is opposed
to the formation of a rational character, and to the well-

ROBERT OWEN 329

being, well-doing, and happiness of all of every colour,
I ountry, creed, and class, and of every one upon the
earth.

It is remarkable that no one ever attempted to dis-
prove the statement of this report and the reasoning
thereon ; and who will now attempt the lask ? None
will venture upon il ; because it will soon be discovered
that it is founded upon self-evident truths, with self-
evident deductions from those truths, and they will
remain such to the end of time. By reference to docu-
ments, I find that it called forth the creation of the
" British and Foreign Philanthropic Society," established
with the view of forwarding the knowledge of the prin-
ciples and practices which I advocated ; and it will be
seen by the names of the parties attached to this society
as its officers, how widely spread and formidable these
views had become, and by my correspondence how strong
was the desire to have a model community commenced.

I was so beset from all quarters of the hberal portion
of society, to commence this experiment in this country,
that, although I felt that the public was only partially
prepared for it, I at length consented that a subscription
should be tried to carry it into execution ; little expecting
that the fund required could be raised — for I asked seven
hundred and fifty thousand pounds for this purpose, and
to my surprise fifty thousand pounds were subscribed.
I declined for some time to commence with less than
two hundred and fifty thousand ; but many of my more
ardent friends had become so confident of the success
of the experiment, that they would not be satisfied
unless I would permit them to commence, and would
give them my assistance. So many of these were sincere
good men, most ardent in the cause, and willing to make
great personal and pecuniary sacrifices to attain the
object of their wishes, that I felt constrained to agree to
see whether an experiment could at that time be made
in Scotland with any reasonable chance of success. And
Mr. J. A. Hamilton the younger, of Dalziel, who was one
of the most ardent admirers of llie new views in principle
and practice, having so often seen their superior effects on

330 THE LIFE OF

the children and matured population of New Lanark,
took every method in his power to induce me to com-
mence the first model community on his lands of Mother-
well, a few miles from New Lanark, and being supported
by many others equally ardent and active in the cause,
it was determined to commence a community on his
property, on as favourable terms as he could make on
entailed property.

The preliminary measures occupied much time during
1822, '23, and part of '24, as will be seen by my corre-
spondence.

While these preparations were in progress I was strongly
invited to visit Ireland, which at this period was in a state
bordering on barbarism, from the ignorant contention
derived from religious hatreds and conflicts and political
strifes between Conservatives and so-caUed Liberals,
then better known as Tories, Whigs, and Radicals.
Tempting offers and strong requests from highly in-
fluential parties at length induced me to visit this island
of striking contrasts in the condition of its population,
and in the practical working of a government made up
of such contending materials. And surely such a medley
of absurdity was not likely to produce any better prac-
tical results. It was a real Babel of religious and
political confusions ; aU parties and interests contending
against each other, making the island a pandemonium ;
while a little truth and common sense would have made
it a paradise.

But as the narrative of my proceedings in Ireland, with
the published documents connected with them, would
too much extend this volume, I will here conclude this
first division of my life — requesting my readers to study
attentively the various divisions of the Appendix, in
which will be found the chief of my publications up to the
period of my visit to the Sister Island.

Since writing the preceding pages, which have been
written at different and sometimes at distant periods, I

ROBERT OWEN 331

have been reminded of several occurrences deserving
notice in this volume.

One of these is, the accidental discovery, by Francis
Place, when he was re-arranging his library and putting
out what he deemed useless and worthless printed
papers, as these were being swept out, of an old pamphlet,
written 150 years before by John Bellers. As Mr. Place
was at that time much interested in my new views,
he immediately brought this pamphlet to me, saying —
" I have made a great discovery — of a work advocating
" your social views a century and a half ago."

This was the only copy known to be in existence, and
I begged it of him, and told him I would print one
thousand copies of it for distribution, and that I would
give the author the credit of originating the idea, although
mine had been forced upon me by the practice of ob-
serving facts, reflecting upon them, and trying how
far they were useful for the everyday business of
life.

I had the thousand copies printed, and I widely cir-
culated them, with the printed papers giving the account
of my great public meetings in 1817, at one of which, as
previously stated, I denounced all the superstitions (then
called religions) which were forced upon different nations
over the world. [A copy of the Pamphlet referred to
will be found in the Appendix.]

In referring to my expenses in preparing for, carrying
on, and circulating the particulars of those meetings, I
find my expenditure for these purposes in July and
August of that year exceeded four thousand pounds.

Having now discovered the all-overpowering influences
of education, rightly understood, in forming the character
of every one, I wrote, in May 1818, a public letter ad-
dressed to my friend the Archbishop of Canterbury,
" On the Union of Churches and Schools," which also
will be found in the supplement Appendix.

I may here refer to the Educational Conference lately
got up (in June of the present year, 1857), by the Church
of England, in opposition to, and intended to counteract
the effects of, the prior " Congress of the Advanced Minds

332 THE LIFE OF

" of the Age," which I had called to consider " the best
" peaceable practical mode of superseding the present
" false, criminal-producing, and evil system, for the
" government of the population of the world, by the true,
" criminal-destroying, or good system of society, for
" perpetually governing all of the human race."

At the time when this Educational Conference was
called, it was known by all the advanced minds of the
age, through my previous public proceedings, that I
had by my public meetings and my public lectures in
this country for more than forty years instructed the
working classes, and that, by my numerous publications
on the subjects connected with a superior formation of
character, I had taken a most active part and a
prominent lead in preparing the public mind for an
entire change of system in training the human race from
birth. And more especially was it known to the leading
philanthropists of the last sixty years, that I had for
more than a quarter of a century applied the new
principles for forming a good and superior character for
our race most successfully to practice at New Lanark
in Scotland, upon all the children of a population of
between two and three thousand, — and where for that
period my establishment and proceedings were freely
open to the public, natives and foreigners, without dis-
tinction, and were visited by thousands annually. And
here my visitors of all nations and ranks saw to their
astonishment gradations of many hundred children,
from one to twelve years of age, in the day-time, and in
the evening young men and women and persons of all
ages, in a newly created institution for the formation of
character, enjoying more happiness under this new
training, without fear of punishment, and making a
greater progress in useful knowledge, than had been
seen at any former period in any age or country.

The spirit, the principle, the practice, and the surround-
ings were all new to the world ; and the infant schools
which I invented and introduced into most successful
practice were the first practical step ever taken towards
the introduction of a rational system for forming and

ROBERT OWEN y^l'^

governing the human race, to lead it to the true Millennial
state of existence upon earth.

Now all of this must have been well known to the
parties calling this extraordinary Educational Conference
in the present year ; and yet I was not called to assist,
nor was my name once mentioned in the whole proceed-
ings of the three days, until I made an attempt to speak
on the last day — when I intended to make known and
to explain to those present the most important discovery
ever yet made kno^vn by man to man. 1

But, no doubt for an ulterior wise purpose, the parties
present were insanely determined that I should not be
heard.

While they were making their unseemly efforts to
prevent my speaking, I could but pity their feelings and
errors, knowing that I possessed the means to make
myself heard through the four quarters of the world.

But seeing their alarm lest I should speak, I satisfied
myself with asking Mr. Edward Baines of Leeds one
question, and with his ready and frank reply, that he
never in his life had seen so beautiful a sight as my
establishment at New Lanark. This was seen by him
before the bigotry and sectarian notions of the limited
mind and views of William Allen had, as one of my
partners, interfered, no doubt from good intentions, to
substitute as far as he could his own narrow-minded
views, for those beyond sects or parties, and which ap-
peared to all other persons so superior to anything they
had ever seen or had imagined could ever be seen in
practice.

It is true, some of the heads of the Church who were
present on this to-be-remembered occasion, knew that
my fixed determination had been, and was, to show
good cause why this wretched system for the government
of humanity should be as speedily as possible peaceably
superseded by the true and good universal system for the
prevention of evil of all kinds, and for the establishment
of all that will be substantially good^through futurity
for the human race.

But instead of being afraid of this great and all-

334 THE LIFE OF

glorious change, they would, if they could comprehend
it in its full extent and consequences, hail it with the
greatest joy, and be among the first to prepare for its
introduction.

If their fears had not overwhelmed them at the
moment, surely the phalanx of talent, learning, station,
and power present at this Conference, could have
effectively replied to one unsupported old man !

But no ! Their fears dictated that truth, spoken
" without mystery, mixture of error, or fear of man,"
would prevail ; and even then, after Mr. Baines had
replied to my question, it did prevail in many minds.

I had also forgotten to mention the Sketch of the
Origin and Proceedings of the Shakers which I pub-
lished with my other pamphlets in 1817. This narrative
of the successful practice of these singular people, in the
United States of North America, shows that even by a
very inferior community life, wealth could be so easily
created for all, that after a comparatively short period
all the members obtained abundance without monev
and without price, and were removed from the fear of
want, knowing by experience that they could and would
be supplied with all things necessary for health and
comfort with the regularity of the seasons. And these
parties have now proved for many years to be far more
correct in morals and conduct than populations similar
in number living under the individual competitive
system. This Sketch is reprinted in the Appendix.

The communities of these Shakers, based on pubUc
without private property, have exhibited the second step
of progress in practice to prepare for the Millennial state
of existence.

The first step was to form a superior physical and mental
character for all ; the second to create abundance of
wealth for all ; and the third step will be to unite the
two first, by basing society on its true principle, and by
placing all within such arrangements of surroundings
as will well-form the character, create the wealth, and
cordially unite all in one interest and feeling over the
world ; which may now be easily attained in practice

ROBERT OWEN 335

by the most beautiful new combinations of surround-
ings.

That no doubts may be left on the mind of the reader
respecting the high permanent importance in principle and
practice of the long-continued experiment which I made
at New Lanark, to form a new and superior character
for all the children of that population, and to new-form
the character of their parents and of all the older part
of the same population, the following authentic docu-
ments are also given in the supplement Appendix.

1st. — The address of the inhabitants of New Lanark
to myself, and my answer — January 1817.

2nd. — ^The address of the same to my partners, Messrs.
Foster, Allen, and Gibbs, — May 1818, — and their answer.

3rd. — An extract from the Morning Post of the 5th
of May 1817, contrasting the system which I had in-
vented and adopted at New Lanark with that recom-
mended by Mr. Curwen, M.P.

4th. — All address from myself to the working classes,
dated 29th March 1819, and published in the Star news-
paper on the 15th April 1819.

5 th. — ^The opening speech of his Royal Highness the
late Duke of Kent, as Chairman of the Public Meeting
held in the Freemasons' Hall, on the 26th of June 1819,
and the debates at that meeting.

6th. — ^The Report of the Commission appointed in
July 1819 by the Guardians of the Poor of Leeds, to
visit New Lanark and to report respecting the means
adopted there to remove the cause of poverty and
pauperism and to well-educate children.

7th. — See alsOjin my Correspondence,a letter of William
Tooke, Esq., i8th November 1819, relative to the same
royal personage as acting chairman of my committee.
And a second dated the 30th of the same month.

THE END

V^fs -y^ ov^'

1

CHIEF WORKS OF ROBERT OWEN

The Book of the New Moral World. Contain-
ing the rational system of society founded on
demonstrable facts, developing the laws of Human
Nature and Society. Pt. I. 8vo. (E. Wilson, 1836.)

Life of Robert Owen. By Himself. With selections
from his writings and correspondence. Vol. I.
(2 parts). 8vo. (E. Wilson, 1857-58.)

New Existence of Man upon the Earth. To which
are added an outline of Mr. Owen's early life, and
an Appendix containing his Addresses, published
in 1815 and 1817. 8 parts. 8vo. (E. Wilson,
1854-55-)

A New View of Society. Essays on the pruiciple
of the formation of the Human Character, etc.
8vo. Privately printed (1813-14). Also numerous
reprints.

New View of Society. Tracts relative to this subject .
With an account of the public proceedings con-
nected with this subject, which took place in
July and August 1817. 8vo. (London, 1818.)

The Revolution in the Mind and Practice of the
Human Race ; or. The Coming Change from Irra-
tionality to Rationality. 8vo. (E. Wilson, 1849.)

A Supplement to the Revolution in the Mind and
Practice of the Human Race. To which is
added a discourse delivered to the Socialists of
London. 8vo. (London, 1849.)
22

338 CHIEF WORKS OF ROBERT OWEN

Observations on the Effect of the Manufacturing

System. 8vo. (London, 1815.)
The Addresses of Robert Owen (as published in the

London Journals). Preparatory to the development

of a practical plan for the relief of all classes, etc.

8vo. (London, 1830.)
The Future of the Human Race, etc. 8vo. (E.

Wilson, 1853.)

INDEX

Adams, John Quincey, United
States Ambassador, 153, 278.

Africa, religions in, 141.

Aix-la-Chapelle, Congress at,
247, 252, 257.

Albemarle, Earl of, 305.

Alexander, Emperor of Russia,
Owen's meeting with, 252,

255-

Alexander, Mr., of Balloch-
myle, 82, 107.

Allen, Gibbs, and Foster,
Messrs., 124, 335.

Allen, William, of Plough
Court, in partnership with
Owen, 123, 131, 133, 143,
195; reason for depreciating
former interests, 324, 333.

America, United States of,
introduction of cotton from,
45, 46 ; cotton embargo by,
87, 88, 1 10 ; religions in,
" 141 ; essays introduced to,
153.225.

Ancaster, family of, 18.

Ancoats Lane, Manchester,
pre nises at, 34.

Arkwright, Sir Richard, part
founder of New Lanark
Mills, 36, loi, 292, 311.

Arkwright's, prominence
production from, 53, 55

Armagh, Archbishop of,
278.

Arno's Grove, Southgate,
Middlesex. See Walker,
John.

and

152

Asia, religions;in, 141.

Atheson, Mr., 96.

Atkinson, Mr. John, his partner-
ship and opposition, 72, 1 19-
129, 133, 135.

Atkinson, Mr. Thomas, 58, 78.

Attwood, Thomas, M.P., 292.

Austin, Mr., 132.

Ajrrshire, cotton mill in, 48, 82,
107.

Bailey, Lady Ross, of Bonning-

ton, family relationship, 114.
Baines, Dr., President of " .Vlan-

chester College," 49, 50.
Baines, Edward, visits Nev/

Lanark, 280, 292, 312, 333.
Balfour, Rev. Mr., marries

Owen to Miss Dale, 76.
" Bank Top Mill," 48.
Banks, George, Mayor of Leeds,

292, 312.
Bardsley, Dr., 51.
Barrington, Hon. Shute, Bishop

of Durham, 143, 168.
Barton, Mr. John, negotiates

for New Lanark Mills, 72.
Bartons, Messrs., 58.
Bedford, Duke of, visits Mr.

Coke of Holkham, 301.
Belfast visited, 153.
Bell, his imperfect steamboat

visited, 97.
Bell, Dr. Andrew, 116, 122,

147, 264.
Bellers, John, tract by, 331.
Belper, Lord, 291.

339

340

INDEX

Benthaai, Jeremy, in partner-
ship with Owen, 123, 132,
179, 292.

Bernard, Sir Thomas, 143.

Bertram, General, 154.

Bethman, M., position of, 252.

Bigotry, deathblow to, 224.

Birley and Hornby, Messrs.,
negotiate for cotton mills,
59. 88.

Blackburn, a visit, and hunt-
ing at, 59.

Blackie, Mr., steward of the
Holkham estate, 302.

Boissy d'Anglas, Count de, 233.

Books, read by Owen, 4, 18 ;
in children's education, 193 ;
in infant schools, 242 ; and
study of human nature, 240.

Booksellers warned not to
publish Owen's Essays, 277,
300.

Borradale and Atkinson, 58,
72, 119.

Bourbon, Island, supply of
cotton from, 44.

Bourne, Sturges, Owen's treat
raent by, 182-184.

Bowring, Dr., 132.

Boyd, Mr., Mayor of Lin th-
gow, 317.

Bradford, Lord, 301.

Braxfield House, 114, 135, 137;
Lord Stowell dines at, 206 ;
Duke and Duchess of Kent
intend to visit, 307.

Braxfield, Lord, 137.

" British and Foreign Philan-
thropic S )ciety," 329.

British Isles, population and
producers, 173.

Brougham, Henry, Lord,
friendship of, 132 ; justifi-
able conduct of, 167 ; in-
terested in infant schools,
196 ; estimate of Owen's
speech, 226 ; Owen mistaken
for, 314.

Brown, General, 1 54.

Browton, family of, 18.

Buchanan, Mr. Archibald,
cotton manufacturer, 48.

Buchanan, James, infant-
school teacher, 192, 196,
210.

Burdett, Sir Francis, M.P.,
292, 301, 305.

Burgess, Thomas, Bishop of
St. David's, 143, 168.

Burleigh, family of , 18.

Burleigh Park, its charm for
Owen, 18.

Byron, spirit intercourse with,
274.

Cambridge, Duke of, interested
in manufacturing, 290.

Campbell, the vlisses, 113.

Campbell, Mr., of Zura, 119.

Campbell, Alexander, his
partnership and opposition,
119-129, 133, 135.

Campbell, Colin, partnership
with, 119.

Campbell, General Colin, posi-
tion of, 139.

Campbell, General Sir Guy,
family connections — mar-
riage of, 114.

Campbell, Sir Neil, incident at
Elba recalled by, 154, 279.

Canning, Mr., interested in
manufacturing, 290.

Canterbury, Archbishop of.
See Sutton, CM.

Carlisle visited, 3T4.

Cartwright, Major, 292.

Castlereagh, Lord, undertakes
to present Owen's memorials,
257 ; interested in manu-
facturing system, 290.

Catrine, cotton mill in, 82, 107.

Cawood, John, of Leeds, visits
New Lanark, 280, 312.

Chalmers, spirit intercourse
with, 274.

Channing, spirit intercourse
with, 274.

Chaptal, discoveries of, 53.

INDEX

341

Character, cause of artificial,
85 ; formation of, 146, 240,

319-
Charlotte, Princess, interested

in manufacturing system,

290.
Charlotte, Queen, presented

with muslins, 48.
Cheshire, British muslins first

manufactured in, 34, 55 ;

management of lills in, 53
Children, con.Utioas of their

employment in the mills,

161, 166.
Chorlton Hall, 66.
Chorlton Mill, 57, 78, 88.
" Chorlton Twist Company,"

58, 60, 64, 88, 94.
Christianity, fundamentals of,

22.
Church in opposition to Owen's

reforms, 116, 264, 265, 276,

279, 280, 333.
City of London Tavern, meet-
ings at, 7, 168, 184, 212-228.

259-263, 276, 296.
Clarke, Mr., 97.
Clarkson, Thomas, 143, 292.
Clyde, a visit to the Falls, 63,

69.

Coach, incidents of travel by,
15, 61, 76, 100, 133, 312.

Coke of Holkham, Owen visits,
300.

Coleridge, S. C, 49, 97.

Colquhoun, Mr., political econ-
omist, 172, 209, 267.

Common sense essential to suc-
cess, 146.

Competition regarded as un-
just, 6.

Congress of Sovereigns, mem-
orials for, 251-257, 259, 276.

" Congress of the Advanced
Minds of the Age," 331.

Co-operation, introduction of
the principles, 87.

Copet, description of a visit to,

239-
Cork visited, 153.

Cotton, early ■ history of, 30,
44-48 ; introduction of

. American, 46.

Craig, James, first user of
American cotton, 46.

Crespigny, Sir William de, 291.

Crighton, Sir Alexander, visits
New Lanark, 200.

Cronford, cotton factory at,

53-

Cumberland, Duke of, inter-
ested in manufacturing
system, 290.

Currency, curious story of the,

71-
Curwen, Mr., M.P., 335.

Cuvier, Baron, 229, 232, 234.

Dale, Anne Carohne, after-
wards Mrs. Owen, first meet-
ing with Owen, 63, 68 ; her
sisters' education, 136-139 ;
anecdote of, 205.

Dale, Mr. David, 63-77, 82, 98-
loi, 107, 112-115, 136, 148.

Dale, Mr. James, conducts
Owen round the mills, 63 ;
returns to Glasgow, 61 ; his
philanthropic efforts at New
Lanark, 83.

Dale, Jane, Miss, 136.

Dale, Julia, Miss, 136.

Dale, Margaret, Misi, 136-139.

Dale, Mary, Miss, 136-139, 140.

Dalton, John, the Quaker, 49,

97-
Dancing, observations on, 5,

13-

Davis, Mr., 24.

Dennistown, \Ir., his partner-
ship and defeat, 119-129,

133. 135-
Desaix, General, sent by the

Duke of Kent to visit New

Lanark, 269.
Distress following war, 168-

173. 321.
Donne, Dr. James, 7.
Douglas, Sir William, 82, 107.
Drake, Parson, 6,

342

INDEX

Drinkwater, Miss, marriage
proposals to, 54.

Drinkwater, Mr., Owen's ex-
perience with, 10, 36, 39, 58,
74, 81, 94; engages Owen
as manager, 36 ; first visitor
to his factory, 42, 56 ; offers
Owen a partnership, 43 ;
Owen destroys agreement
with, 57.

DubUn visited, 153.

Dyce, Mrs., 154.

Eagle, adventure with an, 103.

Edgeworth, Miss, 152, 278, 292.

Edgeworth, Mr., author, 152,
278.

Edinburgh, University of, peti-
tion on "new views," 298,
326.

Education, its early limita-
tions, 3, 47 ; importance in
Owen's schemes, 117, 137,
147, 186, 319 ; dissertation
on, 240.

Eglington, Earl of, family con-
nections, 137.

Elba, copy of the New View
reaches, 153-1SS. 279-

Employment, lessons of active,

9-

England, educative force of a
tour in, 137.

England, Church of, stumbling-
block of its creed, 117.

Environment, law of destiny,
62, 84.

" Essays on the Formation of
Character" (see also New
View of Society), why under-
taken by Owen, 148 ; effects
of their publication, 142 ;
rapid sale, 153; Coleridge's
opinion of, 49 ; copies sup-
plied through the Govern-
ment, 152-155 ; a copy
solicited for Napoleon, 153.

Esterhazy, Prince, Austrian
Ambassador, seeks an intro-
duction to Owen, 185.

Europe, observations on re-
ligions in, 141 ; basis of
society in, 253.

Exeter, Earl of, 19.

Factory Labour Relief Bill,
measures and promotion,
157-168, 264, 310, 311.

Fellenberg, M. de, 245-247.

Ferriar, Dr., senior Vice-
President of the "Man-
chester Literary," 5 i .

Fieldens support Owen's
Factory Bill, 311.

Finlay, Mr. Kirkman, cotton
manufacturer, 48, 126, 148.

Fitzgerald, Lady Mary, family
relations of, 114.

Fitzgerald, Lord Edward, 114.

Fitzgerald, Mi^s, her marriage,
114.

Fletcher, Mrs., " Queen of the
Unitarians," 292.

Flint and Palmer, Messrs., 25-

27.30. 47-
Flummery, effect of eating

scalding, 3, 5,1 o.
Foster, Allen, and Gibbs,

Messrs., 335.
Foster, Joseph, partnership

with Owen, 123, 131, 133,

143. 195-
Fourrier, source of information

obtained by, 322.
Fox, Joseph, partnership with

Owen, 123, 133.
France visited by Owen, 138,

229 ; political state of parties

in, 230 ; cotton manufacture

checked by war with, 48.
Frankfort, preparation and

meetings at, 239, 247, 252-

257.
Franklin, Benjamin, spirit

intercourse with, 274.
Freemason, reason for Owen

not becoming a, 309.
Friburgh, visit to a school at,

240.

INDEX

343

Friends, Society of, 130, 147,

21 1.
Frost, John, 292.
Fulton, Robert, 89.

Galileo, 274.

Geneva, journey to, 235.

Gentz, M., Secretary to the
Congress of Sovereigns, 252.

Geography, method of teach-
ing in first infant school,
199.

George Inn, disappointing in-
cident at the, 24.

Germany visited by Owen,
138, 229, 251, 256.

Gibbs, Foster, and Allen,
Messrs., 335.

Gibbs, Michael, Lord Mayor of
London, partner with Owen,
123, 133.

Glasgow, 34, 62, lis ; Lan-
caster's visit to, 147 ; meet-
ing re tax on raw material,
157; University of , petition
on "new views," 298, 326.

Glenelg, Lord, friendly to
" new views," 291.

Gloucester, Duke of, 290.

Gloucester, Robert Fulton at,
89.

Godwin, Wilhani, 143, 292.

Goldsmid, Sir Isaac Lyon, aids
measures of " new views,"
207, 291.

Goodman Mr., 292.

Goodwins of the Court, 7.

Gott, Mr., 292.

Gould, Nathaniel, of Man-
chester, 167.

Grant, Mr. Chas., friendly to
"new views," 104, 291.

Gray, Sir Charles, 291, 314.

Great Britain, artificiality of
society in, 144 ; over popu-
lation of, 201.

Greenheys described, 6^, yy.

Hall,Captain, visit to Napoleon,
338.

Hamilton, Duke of, 322.

Hamilton, J. A., of Dalziel, an
admirer of " new views," 329.

Hammel, Dr., Russian col-
lector, 207.

Happiness, creation of, 144 ;
mean; of attaining, 251.
larewood Earl of. See
Lascelles.

Harrowby, Earl of, aids
measures of " new views,"
291.

Hase, Henry, aids measures of
" new views," 187, 196, 291.

Hastings, Marquis and Mar-
chioness, aid measures of
" new views," 291.

Hazlitt, his estimate of Owen,
105.

Henry, Mr., the che:nist, 51.

Heptinstall, Mr., dealer in lace,
16, 27.

Herschell, Sir J. F. W., visits
cotton mills, 42, 56.

Heworth, 313.

Heywood, Mr. Sergeant, visits
Manchester mills, 42.

Highlands, visit to, 101-105.

Hoare, Mr., senior, banker, aids
measures of " new views,"
143, 291.

Hofwyl, visit to school at, 245-
247.

Holkham, agricultural experi-
ments at, 301.

Holme, Dr., 51.

Honduras, 6y.

Houldsworth, Mr., his mission
of scandal-hunting, 162-166.

Human nature, lessons in, 42,
117, 143, 146, 203; mis-
directed, 194.

Humboldt, Alexander von, 232.

Hume, Joseph, M.P., 292 ;
visits Mr. Coke of Holkham,

301, 305-
Humphreys, Mr., 58. 81, 129.
Hunt, Henry, M.P., 292.
Hunter, Colonel, proposes a
toast,^i27.

344

INDEX

Independents in Scotland,

68.
Infant schools, institution and

progress of, 192-200, 210-

212,
Inverness visited by Owen, 103.
Ireland, invitation to visit,

153. 330 ; society in, 144.

Jackson, President, adopts

" new views," 278.
Jacobi, Baron, the Prussian

Ambassador, 185.
Jamaica, 225.
Jardine, Professor, 148.
Jefferson, President, adopts

" new views,".. 278 ; spirit

intercourse with, 274.
John, Prince of Austria, visits

New Lanark, 203.
JoUy, Mr., 97.
Jones, Ernest, 30-36, 292.
Jourdain, Camille, 233.
Jura, incidents while crossing,

235-
Just, Baron, secures Owen

royal recognition, 208.

Kelly, Mr. WilHam, 73, 81.

Kennedy. See McConnell.

Kennedy, of Manchester, 292.

Kensington Gardens, 24.

Kent, Duke of, public interest
and friendship with Owen,
209, 230, 266-275, 290, 296,
31O1 335 ; intends to visit
New Lanark, 307 ; spirit
communication from, 274,
315 ; death of, 325.

Kerry, Montgomeryshire, 8,
24.

Kilbarchan, making of muslins
at, 48.

Kirk nan Finlay and Co.,
Messrs., of Glasgow, 107.

Krudener, Baron de, 255.

Lambeth, visit to, 149.
Lanark, candidate for, 311,
325'

Lancaster, Joseph, his educa-
tional .system aided, 116,
122, 264; invitation to
Glasgow, 147.

Lane, ^liss, 138.

Lansdowne, Marquis of, assists
in establishing an infant
school, 196.

La Place, the astronomer, 232.

Lascelles, Lord, influence and
help from, 159, 217.

Lauderdale, Lord, interest in
Owen, 291, 296 ; effect of
his speech, 327.

Lausanne, meeting at, 257.

Lavoisier, iscussion on dis-
coveries of, 53.

Lee, George, partnership of, 36.

Leeds, adopts Owen's nodel
for poor law reform, 280;
Guardians of the Poor at,
335 ; deputation visits New
Lanark from, 312.

Leinster, Duke of, 114.

Letters, the carriage of, 65.

Lenning, Mr. Thomas, 94.

Leopold, Prince, interested in
manufacturing, 290.

Liberty, real understanding of,
213.

LiUas, Lady, relationship ^of ,

Limerick visited, 153.
Lincolnshire, 17.
Linlithgow, prospective parlia-
mentary candidate for, 311,

317. 325-
Liston, Sir Robert, 291.
Literature, varied reading and

its influence, 4, 18.
Liverpool, Lady, 150, 277.
Liverpool, Lord, friendliness

of, 149, 277, 290, 299, 317,

327 ; interview with, 218.
Llanllwchaioin, parish of, 6.
London, Owen's first visit to,

12, 15.
Lonsdale, Earl of. See Low-

ther, Sir William.
Louis Philippe, 230J

INDEX

345

Lowther, family of, i8.

Lowther, Sir William, after-
wards Earl of Lonsdale,
i8.

Macaulav, Zachary, 143.
Macgregor, Alexander, 125,

133-
Macintosh, Lady, her views
after^ visiting New Lanark,

143-
Macintosh, Miss, her views
after visiting New Lanark,

143-
Macintosh, Charles, inventor

of " Macintoshes," 82, 100.

Macintosh, George, mill part-
nership vnth, 82, 100-104,
107.

Macintosh, Sir James, philo-
sopher, 143.

Macnab, Dr. Henry Gray, sent
by the Duke of Kent to visit
New Lanark, 269.

Maconnel of Manchester, 292.

Macqueen, Robert, occupies
Braxfield House, 137.

Madison, President, adopts
" new views," 278.

Malthus, Rev. Thomas Robert,
143, 178, 292.

Malthusians, 201, 215 ; in op-
position to Owen, 266, 280.

Manchester, Owen's commer-
cial interests in, 29-89 ; pro-
duction of cotton in, 30, 36,
53 ; estimation of Owen by
the people of, 45.

Manchester Literary and Philo-
sophical Society, 49-53.

Marshall, Mr,, part purchaser
of Greenheys, 67.

Marsland, Mr. Peter, of Stock-
port, visits Manchester mills,
42, 292.

Marsland, Samuel, invites
Owen as a partner, 57, 97,
292.

Maximilian, Prince of Austria,
visits New Lanark, 203.

McConnel and Kennedy,
Messrs., 35.

McGuffog, Rlr. James, of Stam-
ford, 16-30, 33, ** 40, 41.

47-
McNiven, Mr., 94.
Melville, Lord, 317.
Men, conduct of public, 161.
Menzies, Rev., his antagonism,

cause and effect, 162-166.
Mexico, 225.
Mill, James, of the India

House, 132, 143, 178, 292 ;

interested in education

scheme, 196.
Minchall, Madame, 66.
Mitchell, ?.Ir., a Glasgow

agent, 34.
Mon^rief, Mr. Scott, friendly

offices of, 75.
Mont Blanc, a first view of,

236.
Monteith, Mr., 317.
Montgomeryshire, home of

Owen in, i, 8, 24.
Moore, Mr., employs Owen, 1 1-

13, 16.
Morgan, John Minter, 292.
Morning Post, 335.
Mortlock, Mr., 169-171.
Moulson, Scarth, andpwen, 58.
Moulston, Mr., 97.
" Mules," Imachinery -for, 32,

35-.
Mushn, 'supply and demand of,

34, 45, 46, 48.
Mylne, Professor, 148.

Napoleon receives and en-
dorses "new views," 153-
1 55, 279 ; visited by Captain
Hall, 238.

National schools, 116.

Nature, the giver of quahties,
22.

Neckar, Madame, Owen's intro-
duction to, 237.

New Lanark, cotton-spinning
at, 35, loi ; Owen's first
visit to, 63 ; second visit, 71 ;

346

INDEX

third visit and purchase of,
jl, 88 ; Mr. Dale desires to
sell, 69, 71 ; Owen com-
mences his government at,
78-85 ; deplorable condi-
tion of population, 79, 85 ;
opposition from inhabitants,
86 ; successfully governed
in accordance with Owen's
doctrine of environment, 87,
108, 112, 115, 129, 143, 173,
200, 260, 264, 317 ; means
adopted to alleviate cotton
embargo distress, 87, 1 10 ;
not a field to display " new
views" to the full, no;
singular method adopted to
record daily character in
mills. III, 190; sold to a
new firm, 119; sold again
to Owen, 1 21-133 ; pam-
phlet with proposed changes,
123 ; John Walker's partner-
ship in, 123, 129, 249 ; re-
joicings on its purchase, 133-
135 ; steps for education,
domestic economy, etc., at,
148, 186, 195, 212, 241, 243,
318 ; difficulty of securing
infant-school teachers for,
191 ; dancing, singing, and
drilling by the children, 195,
198, 210 ; visitors and
guests, 143, 158, 162, 206,
280 ; intended visit by the
Duke of Kent to, 208, 268,
307 ; remarks of religious
visitors to, 281 ; serious
fire at, 3 1 5 ; experiments at,

335-

" New Lanark Twist Com-
pany " changes its title, 119.

New View of Society (see
also " Essays on the Forma-
tion of Character"), first
openly propagated, 105 ;
question, " How will you
begin ? " answered, 108 ;
could t not' be fully demon-
strated at New Lanark,

109, 117, 290; preparation
for its publication, 122, 148 ;
attracts the notice of Mr.
John Walker, 129 ; Lord
and Lady Liverpool capti-
vated by, 1 50 ; submitted
through the Britistf Govern-
ment all over the world,
152-155 ; friendships secured
by these essays, 171, 185,
291-294 ; a practical uni-
fying force, 212 ; discussed
at Frankfort, 253 ; advo-
cated by the newspapers,
261 ; committee formed in
London to promote, 268 ;
public desire for an experi-
ment, 276, 329 ; opposition
by Church to, 277, 290 ;
published in foreign coun-
tries, 278, 327 ; said to be
too good to be adopted,
293 ; Lord Lauderdale's
concern, 296, 327 ; ex-
plained at Mr. Coke's Holk-
ham estate, 300 ; pro-
moted by the " British and
Foreign Philanthropic So-
ciety," 329.

Newal House, residence of Mr.
Drinkwater, 56.

Newcastle, 313.

Newspapers, their support of
Owen, 214-220, 262.

Newton-Douglas, cotton mill
at, 82, 107.

Newtown, Montgomeryshire,
birthplace of Owen, 1,7, 11,
15, 24, 43.

Newtown Hall, 2.

Noel, family of, 18.

Northwich, cotton factory at,

53-
Norwich, Bishop of, 168.

Oastler, Richard, of York-
shire, 167.

Oastler, Robert, of Leeds,

visits New Lanark, 280,
312.

INDEX

347

Oberlin, Father, conversation I

on education, 240-244. :

" Observations on the Manu- '

ftcturing System," 290. i

O'Connor, Feargus, M.P., 292.
Old Hall, near Kerry, 8, 24.
Old Lanark, 74, 133, 317.
Oldenburgh, Duke of Holstein-,

his visit to New Lanark, 20 1 - j

203. !

Oldknow, Samuel, first manu- \

facturer of " muslins," 34, 1

55, 82, 292.
Olier, Miss, 138.
Olive, Princess of Cumberland.

See Serries, Mrs. Lavinia.
" On the Union of Churches

and Schools," public letter

by Owen, 331.
Orleans, Duke of. See Louis

Philippe.
Orleans cotton, 44.
Oswestry, 7.
Otway, Admiral Sir Robert,

canvasses for Owen, 317,

325.

Owen, Anne, afterwards mar-
ried to Mr. Davis, 2, 24.

Owen, Anne Caroline, 98.

Owen, David Dale, 98, 200.

Owen, Jane Dale, 98.

Owen, John, brother of Robert,
a competition with, 2, 6.

Owen, Mary, 98.

Owjn, Richard, brother of
Robert, 2.

Owen, Richard, son of Robert,
98, 200.

Owen, Robert, senior, i, 14.

Owen, Robert, birth and
baptism — early family re-
collections, 1,8; schooldays
— becomes an " usher "
when seven years old, 2,
4 ; scalding " flummery "
changes outlook, 3, 5, 10 ;
incidents on first leaving
home, 13-16; enters Mr.
McGuffog's service at Stam-
ford, 16-30 ; daily reading

— writes to Mr. Pitt, 18, 22 ;
with Messrs. Flint and Pal-
mer— his appearance, 24-
26 ; leaves for Mr. Satter-
field's, Manchester, 28 ;
machine-making — aged nine-
teen as spinner, 30-32,
35 ; declines partnership
with Mr. McGuffog, 33; be-
comes manager at Mr.
Drinkwater's mills, 37 ;
method of dealing with
the workpeople, 41 ; pro-
spective partnership with
Mr. Drinkwater, 43, 56 ;
maker of the finest yarns, 44,
45, 155 ; forms an intimacy
with John Dalton and
others, 49 ; joins the
" Literary and Philosophical
Society of Manchester," 50 ;
theories on man, 52, 53 ;
undertakes superintendence
of water - spinning mill,
53 ; partnership \vith Mr.
Marsland declined, 57 ;
amusing hunting exploit near
Blackburn, 59 ; journey to
Glasgow, 59-62 ; meets Miss
Dale, 63, 68-72, 74 ; resides
at Chorlton Hall and
Greenheys House, 66,
67, 77 ', purchases New
Lanark, 70-74 ; marriage,
30th Sept. 1799, 76 ; abode
and government at New
Lanark, 78-89 ; method of
deaUng with unemployment,
87; friendship with Robert
Fulton, 89-97 ; his children,
7, 201, 247 ; journey with
Mr. George Mackintosh to
the Highlands, 100-104 ; re-
ceives freedom of Inverness,
103 ; propagates his New
View of Society, 105, 122,
148, 152-155, 253, 278, 300,
327 ; introduction of the
silent monitor for daily
conduct, III, 190; neces-

348

INDEX

sity for an infant school,
115, 117, 136,318; encour-
ages Lancaster's and Bell's
education systems, 117, 264 ;
partners alarmed at ad-
vanced views, 1 18-120, 324 ;
with new partners purchases
New Lanark property, 120-
136, 249 ; curious incidents
at an auction sale, 125-128 ;
public life now fairly com-
menced (18 13), 136; tours
in Great Britain and on
the Continent, 137, 229-248,
257-259, 280 ; " Essays on
the Formation of Char-
acter," 142, 148, 149-155;
encourages Joseph Lancaster
to come to Scotland, 147;
introduced to Sir Neil Camp-
bell, anecdote of Napoleon,
153-155 ; relief for factory
employees, 15S ; Parlia-
ment promises remission of
tax, 158; Factory Labour
Relief Bill promoted,

158-167,174; appointed to
a Distress Committee,
168-180 ; Committee on the
Poor Laws, strange attitude
to, 182-184 ; public meet-
ings called or attended by,

184, 212-228, 259-263, 280,
294, 296 ; interviews on,
and visitors to. New Lanark,

185, 200, 206-208, 269, 300,
333 ; school difficulties, 192-
197 ; James Buchanan
given up to aid his friends,
196 ; entertains Nicholas,
Emperor of Russia, 200 ;
visits the Queen of Wiirttem-
berg, 202 ; receives gold
medal from the King of
Saxony, 208 ; describes his
visit to the second infant
school, 210-212 ; utiUzes
the daily press, 215, 262;
public denunciation of all
religions, 219-225, 281-290 ;

consideration and opposition
to his proceedings, 225-228,
259-267 ; travels with Pro-
fessor Pictet and Baron
Cuvier 229-248, 257-259 ;
visits Mademoiselle de Stael
and meets M. Sismondi at
Copet, 238 ; three noted
schools in Switzerland
visited and described, 246-
247 ; proceeds to Frankfort,
prepares memorials, 247,
254-257, 259, 276 ; incident
on offering a copy of his
memorial to Emperor Alex-
ander, 255; Duke of Kent's
interest in Owen and "new
views," 266, 296, 315, 324;
receives Dr. McNab and
General Desaix, 269 ; re-
lates some particulars of
Mrs. Serries, 271 ; opposi-
tion to his " new views,"
277, 290, 296, 327 ; visits
Leeds on the invitation of
the Poor Law Guardians,
280 ; influential persons in-
terested in " new views,"
290-294 ; attends meeting
with Sir Robert Peel against
Mr. Peel, 294, 295, 321 ;
Lord Lauderdale's attitude
toward, 296-299 ; his in-
teresting account of visit
to Mr. Coke at Holkham,
300-310 ; requested to be-
come a Freemason — on ad-
vice does not, 309 ; parlia-
mentary candidate — de-
feated by four votes, 311,
317 ; is mistaken for Spence
and again for Lord Broug-
ham, 313, 314; asked for a
report on distress in Lanark,
322, 326 ; receives the
thanks of the French
Academy, 327 ; invited to
visit Ireland, 330 ; repub-
lishes an old tract by John
Bellers, 331 ; writes an

INDEX

349

account of the Shakers in
America, 334 ; documents
relating to experiments at
New Lanark. 335 ; various
residences: Braxfield House,
137; Chorlton Hall, 66;
Glasgow, 98 ; Greenheys,
67, yy ; London, 15, 16, 25,
266 ; Manchester, 29, 32,
89 ; New Lanark, 78 ; New-
town, I ; Rosebank, 138 ;
Stamford, 16.

Owen, Mrs. Robert. See Dale,
Anne Caroline.

Owen, Robert Dale, 97.

Owen, William, 2, 15, 16,24,31.

Owen, William Dale, 98.

Paisley, cotton manufacturing
at, 48.

Palmer, William, junior, 27.

Paris, 96, 229.

Paris, Julian de, first meeting
with Owen, 228.

Parliament, Houses of, sym-
pathetic consideration from,

^58.
Peebles, prospective parlia-
mentary candidate for, 311,

'i'^7' 325- . . ^

Peel, Sir Robert, senior, intro-
duces Factory Rehef Bill,
143, 157, 159, 161, 167, 264,
299, 317 ; attends meeting
against his son's measure,
294, 321.

Peel, Sir Robert, junior, first
notice respecting, 151 ; an
interviev/ described, 218 ;
afterwards Prime Minister,
his inexperience, 218, 295.

Peninsular War, meeting to
reheve distress following,
168-173, 321.

Percival, Dr., President of the
" Manchester Literary," 49.

Perthshire, cotton mill in, 82.

Pestalozzi, a visit to a former
partner of, 245.

Philips and Lee, 167.

Philips, Sir George, of Salford,
partnership of, 36 ; his ex-
amination expunged, 167.

Pictet, Professor F. J., 229-
248, 257-259 ; Napoleon's
concession of imported Eng-
hsh publications to, 234.

Pitt, William, 22.

Place, Francis, the Malthusian
politician, 132, 143, 154, 292,
331 ; character and confes-
sions of, 169, 178.

Political economy, 143.

Porter, [iss, 292.

Preston, a manufacturer of , 61.

Prevost, Madame, meeting
with, 237.

Price, Sir John Powell, Bart., 2.

Punishment, Owen's view of
juvenile, 15.

Radnorshire visited, 24.
Reason essential to success,

146.
ReUgion, thoughts on, 5, 21,

41, 85, 98, 137, 139-142 :

damage by professors of,
162, 212 ; consideration and
public declaration on, 219-
225 ; denounced as the
obstacle to improvement,
220, 222, 260-263, 281-290.

Resources of the British Enipite,
by Colquhoun, referred to,
172, 209.

Reynolds, Mr., a saddler, 15.

Ricardo, David, M.P., the
economist, 143, 178, 292.

Riddle, Sir John Buchanan,

311-
Rider, Mr., aids measures of

" new views," 291.

Rigi, Mount, 239.

Rochefoucault, Duke de la,
his cotton-spinning manu-
factory, 234.

Roscoe, WiUiam, 292.

Rosebank, the residence of Mr.
David Dale, 138.

Ross, Sir Charles, Bart., 1 14.

350

INDEX

Rothschild,] Madame, aids

measures of " new views,"

291.
Rothschild, Nathan, 252, 291.
Rowe, an eccentric minister

of. 6.
Roy, Ramoun, observations on

religion, 142.
Rush, His Excellency Richard,

United States Ambassador,

300. 305-
Russia, Emperor of, interest in
visit to New Lanark, 200-
203.

Sabbath disregarded in Stam-
ford, 22.

St. Ann's Square, Manchester,
lodgings in, 32.

St. Domingo, 225.

Satterfield, Mr., business re-
lationship with, 27, 29,

47-
Saxony, King of, recognition

of Owen, 208.
Scarth, Mr., 97.
Schools, view and practice in

establishing, 1 1 5-1 1 7, 1 20,

136, 186, 191, 196, 240-

247.
Scien.ce, effects of its progress,

253-

Scotland, Owen's visits to, 59,
60-64, 103, 137 ; shares in
cotton manufacturing, 48 ;
children's education and the
" new system " in, 147.

Scott, Sir Walter, 10 1.

Scott, Sir William. See Sto-
well. Lord.

Selkirk, Royal Burgh of, pro-
spective parliamentary can-
didate for, 311, 317, 325.

Seneca, 19.

Serries, Mrs. Lavinia, some
notes respecting, 271.

Severn, river, impression of,
2, II.

" Shakers of North America,"
account of, 334.

Shelley, spirit intercourse wi

274.
Shrewsbury passed on t

London journey, 13, 15.
Sidmouth, Lady, visit to N'

Lanark, 206.
Sidmouth, Lord, his interest

Owen's Essays, 151,278,25

investigates a false chai

against Owen, 164-166.
" Silent monitor," use a

description in preventi

punishments, iii, 188, 19
Simpson, Mr., 36, 292.
Simpson, Surgeon, 51.
Sismondi, M., 239.
Sloane, David, 17, 19.
Saiith, Mr., of Deanstow

48.
Smith, Benjamin, M.P., r

tional school founder, 196.
Smith, John, M.P., banke

interested in infant schoo'.

196 ; aids in promotii

" new views," 291.
Smith, William, M.P. f.

Norwich, views on a petitio

298.
Social Reforms, launch ir

scheme and ideas for, 2ii

228.
Society. See also New Vie

of Society.
Society, the director i

qualities, 22.
Society of Friends, 'infar

school established by, 211.
Spear, Miss, 62,, 64, 68.
Spear, Robert, a Manchesto

cotton broker, 45, 63.
Speirs, Alexander, present

Queen Charlotte witi

muslins, 48.
" Spinning Dale Cotton Mill,'

101-104, 107.
Spiritualism, 274, 279, 315.
Spitalfields, third infant schoo

set up at, 211.
Stael, Mademoiselle de, visii

to, 239.

INDEX

351

iford. Lines, Owen's resi-
nce and employment at,

-24. 33-

ley, John, reminiscence of,

newspaper, 335.
mboat, some account of
e inventor of, 89-97.
le, Laurence, possibilities
plagiarism of, 4.
art. Rev. James Haldane,
s marriage, 1 39.
Icport, British muslins first
oduced at, 34, 55.
'ell, Lord, visit to New
nark, 206.

tt, Joseph, of Derby,
jets Owen at Geneva, 238,
I.

tt, William, of Derby, 291,
I.

tts, Messrs., prominence
the cotton trade, ss.
ges. Bourne. See Bourne,
ex, Duke of, visits Owen,
'9 ; his friendly interest,
16, 290, 296 ; visits Mr.
^ke of Holkham, 301 ;
tends to visit New Lanark,
)7 ; on Owen becoming a
reemason, 309.
on, Chas. Manners, Arch-
shop of Canterbury, 143,
t9, 168, 276, 331 ; pre-
des at Owen's meeting, 214.
5S .'National Society of

. atural History, 257.
tzerland, 138, 229; visits

iO three noted schools in,
+0-247.

istock. Lord, 301.

lor, Richard, and Co.,

[inters of Owen's Essays,

53-

nyson, Alfred, Lord, 19.
okness, Mr., Owen's first
:hoolmaster, 2.
mton, Mr. Henry, banker,
43. 291.

Tilsley, Misses, Owen's em-
ployment by, 1 1 .

Tilsley, Mr., 16.

Times, a warm supporter of
Owen's views, 213, 262.

Tooke, WiUiam, 335.

Torrens, Colonel Robert, 143,
178.

Torrington, Viscount, aids
measures of "^^new views,"
291.

Torrington, Viscountess, 291.

Tour and Taxis, Prince of,

255-

Travelling, incidents of, 15,61,
76, 100, 133, 312.

Trickstone Bar, the crossing of,
61.

Trollope, family of, 18.

Turner, Rev. William, of New-
castle, 143.

Turners of Penarth 7.

Unemployment, payment dur-
ing, 88, no.

Van Buren, Mr., adopts "new
views," 278.

Vansittart, Nicholas, after-
wards Lord Bexley, an
interview with, 158.

Wade, General, use of military
roads made by, lOO.

Wales, Owen's early home in,
I, 24.

Walker, Mr. John, of Amo's
Grove, in partnership with
Owen, 123, 129 ; a de-
scription, 195, 249 ; bio-
graphical notice of, 130, 202,
239, 247-251, 257, 266,
291.

War, relief of distress following,
168-173, 321.

Wardlaw, Rev. Ralph, 148.

Washing as done in Scotland,
61.

Washington, Judge, cordial
reception by, 279.

352

INDEX

Wellbeloved, Mr. Charles,
Principal of the Manchester
College, York, 49, 143.

Wellington, Duke of, British
representative to the Con-
gress, 257.

Welsh Pool, birthplace of
Owen senior, i.

West Indies, cotton from, 44.

Westminster, infant school at,
its mismanagement, 196,
210.

Westminster, Dean of, 217.

Westmoreland, family of, 18.

Wilberforce, Mr. WiUiam,
friendly to " new views,"
143, 291.

Wilderspin, William, master
of the third infant school,
211.

WilUams, family of, locatic

and calling, i.
Williams of Vaynor, 7.
WiUiams, Richard, 8-10, 24.
Winstanley, Mr., an intima;

friend of Owen, 49.
Women, practice of washiuj

by, 61.
Woodruff, Mr., 34.
Wiirttemburg.Queen of.Owen*

interview with, 203.

York, famous college remove

to, 49, 50.
York, Duke of, 168, 209, 29<
Young, Miss Molly, teacher

the first infant school, 192
Yverdun, school visit at, 244.

Zura, Island of, its owner, T19

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