when reform was needed but there were men adapted, by all the powers of eloquence and self-devoted magnanimity, to accomplish such reform.

Science has its devotees-politics have theirs-history too, that eternial scroll, on which, in indelible characters, as event after event falls from the lips of time, is fixed its date to erect the index that shall point out to the philosopher the commencement of distinct epochs in human progression, with their long accounts of crime and poverty, disappointment and deserved punishment of nations as well as individuals, has hers-devotees engrafted with the prejudices of their age-who, though assured by that same history how they owe their present advanced views, compared with the past, to the fact of men struggling against the prejudices of their forefathers, and by innovation pushing their reforms in every direction, doggedly retain prejudices as difficult to overcome, and as much a violation of the principles of nature, as were those of our forefathers. Even in the present day men have been taught to repeat by rote, the sentiment- "All men are brethren ;" and it has not inspired them with the determination, as far as in them lies, to do all in their power to carry out its holy meaning. No, such would require too much from them; they may have large possessions, accumulated, perchance, by the hard toil and sweat of portions of ill-paid humanity; they, of course, could not afford to make such a sacrifice as to fairly divide them amongst those who produced them. They may have intelligence! created by the very circumstances that gave them money and time to acquire it." All men are brethren." They should employ that intelligence to make the poor man as intelligent as themselves, and place him in the social scale in a more elevated position. Oh! such would tend to give the workman a greater power in himself and serve to make him less submissive; in fact, it would cost the annihilation of the power given us by capital. Such is the practical reasoning of many who, thankful for their prosperous condition in the world, walk in all the conventional paths of society, and devoutly attend church observance on the Sabbath.

It is well, they argue, wars have been necessary in the past, in order to advance us from barbarism to civilization. It is well-commerce, less ferocious, has introduced its machinery. It is well-religion under the guidance of Luther has emerged from the dark ages and gives more freedom of expression. It is well-science, by the agency of such men as Sir Isaac Newton, is becoming free from the

superstitions that enshrouded it. It is well-men are not now imprisoned and publicly burnt for having their political sentiments. Yes! all these things are well. We are well off, and do not see but others possessed of perseverance and talent, may be the same, so we have no need of reformsthey revolutionize the world and turn things upside down.

Yes, and the world must be revolutionised; things do not for ever remain in the same state-they progress in the one direction or the other. And ye who by your hypocritical protestations of "brotherly love," are content with your own selfish condition, are content to use the advantages of civilization handed down to you, through the struggles of men in the past, who had more dangers than ye have to confront in their divine work, and are not willing to hand down to posterity, even greater advantages, because of the greater means at your disposal-but, on the contrary, are content merely to survey and aid to perpetuate the intellectual and political depravity of society, have much to answer for.

Is it well, that in the accumulation of wealth by machinery, you have overworked and ill paid men, women, and children, gradually falling a prey to disease and death.. Is it well, that religion has become a mask to hide the face of cruelty and shame that bigotry predominates in all sects to certain extents-and that honest conscientiousness suffers the lash of sectarian prejudice! There is great need of further reform in these things. The human mind must progress beyond the illiberality of sectarianism. Religion should be the receptacle of all that humanises, ennobles, and purges; when deficient of these qualities, it must, of necessity, produce harm and stand opposed to the true interests of man. But, I believe, religion can have no direct influence over that man's heart who refuses to adopt the principle-" All men are brethren," and to apply it to his practical everyday transactions. I well know there are some who possess the desire and energy of will, but find their attempts apparently fruitless in carrying out a system of moral guidance which shall regulate the mechanical and political condition of life; but however imperceptible they have an influence for good-they show the possibility of a better state being attainable, and by example, which is ever powerful, and earnest purpose, which is ever needed, they lessen the souldestroying philosophy of the world. Such men are noble specimens of our race, who are continuously striving for the realization of a brighter time, when men will be unshackled in conscience and unrestricted in expression, and will universally support each other in claiming equal rights and

maintaining equal duties. Such a time, to the most sanguine, appears far distant, and to the time-serving sceptic unapproachable. Yet all history, and all nature with her law of gradual progression, attests the fact that such a time must come. It is the guiding-star set in the firmament of the future, to which the eyes of all generations are attracted by its glorious luminence. Poets have been inspired by its promises, and have prophesied-in words that burn-its approach. Philosophers have propounded theories and elucidated proofs for its attainment. Statesmen have moulded laws and constructed institutions in expectation of it; and religionists have wielded even a mightier power than all in giving hopes of a time, when the inequalities and conventional disputes of society shall die away. All reformers, of all opinions, agree that some change for the better must take place; but all differ in the mode of attaining it. The political reformer will argue for certain political changes as the best means of effecting a true reform in the order of society, that shall give the greatest happiness to the greatest possible number. The social reformer will maintain that men have the means already within their power to elevate themselves, and can, by a proper application of the principle of co-operation, place themselves in a position to demand political suffrage. The moral reformer will assert that individual reformation must take precedence of all, that the world can never progress satisfactorily without the combined energies of individuals who have first reformed themselves, and, consequently, have become fitted for newer and better conditions. The educational reformer will strenuously advocate a system of national instruction, which shall be free to all alike, where distinctions in rank may not create distinctions in the mode of acquiring knowledge, but where both rich and poor shall be on an equality. And, lastly, the religious reformer will quote passages of Scripture in support of the theory, that human nature is nought but bruises and putrifying sores, and until it shall regain its lost estate, all systems of reform, however true they may appear to the natural mind, must prove unsuccessful, and without the counteracting influence of religion must inevitably lead mankind wrong. Amongst such a variety of opinions, one is inclined to become bewildered and to reel in a state of mental excitement.

The world must shake off its drowsiness-this is an age of speculation-men risk enormous fortunes in the markets of commerce-they hesitate not when they see advantages likely to accrue from the manufacture of some machine that

shall accelerate the speed of production and decrease the labour of the artizan, to speculate their means for its accomplishment. But they seem perfectly unwilling to speculate even in belief, for the machinery that shall produce permanent prosperity to a people. Why, in carrying out the advantages of commerce, not only have large fortunes been sunk, and to the individuals brought no returns, but the lives of thousands have been jeopardised and even sacrificed; for commerce has her martyrs, as well as war and religion. We behold them in the attenuated numbers that have sunk exhausted by over toil, to whom life was a monotony of mere animal pursuits, and the divine rays of knowledge were of little or no advantage, since the capacities for that which would refine or stimulate to intellectual progression, had been stultified in their growth by the powerful agency of productive necessity. We behold them in the many thousands of our young women, torn from the genial habitudes of home, to keep up an incessent war with the principle of competition, which, in its demon-hearted strength is levelling the finer instincts of humanity, and destroying the moral rectitude of virtue; we behold them in the little children-dwarfed in stature and stilted in strength-shut out from the necessary enticements of childhood-from the warming influence of the sun, and the glowing sympathies of the powerful of the land, who, instead of receiving impressions of wisdom and goodness from a mother's lips, are driven to the factory or mine to cheapen labour, and receive the impressions, too often of wickedness taught by the evil example of those around them, and, then, to become men and women in almost youthful imbecility; and at the age of sixteen, eighteen, or twenty, to finish their unnatural existence, and afford more evidence to show that our so called civilization is neither more nor less than a refined barbarism, where men are employed in bringing to perfection the cheapest modes of production, regardless alike of human instincts and moral happiness.

How much have not men suffered in physical feebleness and social inequality, to bring to perfection the science of Political Economy, and they have not suffered in vain—it is rapidly progressing; but in its march it tramples on honesty and lifts the physically strong above the physically weak, creating antagonism between them-teaching the doctrine of individual dependence, whilst it moulds the very conditions which prevent the advancement of the labouring population without mutual dependence-asserting that labour should be free from all combinations, and that every

man should be left entirely to his own unaided strength; but it says nothing against the combinations of capital which are too often employed against the wekness of labour. The state of the commerce, at the present time, is an evidence that such a system produced by the Political Economy of the day is radically wrong, and the principle of human justice is wanting, and until it be employed, unreservedly, this system of things must continue.

I believe the time will come when society shall have advanced in spite of all these life-destroying influences, and the principle of moral philosophy shall usurp the supremacy of mere material phylosophy. How calculations shall be come to, not with the sole aim of increasing wealth, but with the more divine aim of increasing the comforts of the people. We have too long been dazzled and betrayed by the mere superficial display around us. We have been taught that England is a great nation, and that her mission is, "to teach the nations how to live;" but we have forgotten to take into the balance of our considerations that which

constitutes true greatness. It is not in the conquest of brute and unjust force over large dominions. It is not merely in the vast accumulation of wealth and extravagant luxuries, not in exhibitions where is developed the most magnificent display of human ingenuity. These only betray the powers of production-they do not exhibit fair distribution; therefore, I contend there can be no true greatness where there are not equitable arrangements for the increasing necessities of the people. Talk about fair disstribution! what madness! in a state of unlimited competition, say the upholders of the present state of things. Yes; indeed, it is madness! there can be no fair distribution as long as that principle, in its unlimited and individual sense, exists. No; that must be dispensed with, or there can be no remedy for the evils of our social system. Moral philosophy would teach the strong to aid the weak; political philosophy teaches the strong to crush the weak; the one would make men honest, the other makes them dishonest; the one would recognise their manhood, the other recognises their serfdom.

Then, it is a question with all who would see humanity advance, whether moral philosophy is not better and safer as the rule of life than the cold calculating pounds, shillings, and pence philosophy of the present day. That is the question mankind has to answer-it is the problem whose solution will raise human nature in its own estimation and give fresh impetus to the wheels of civilization. It is the