THE LONDON ILLUSTRATED NEWS
FEB. 23, 1850.
LAW INTELLIGENCE.
__________
COURT OF EXCHEQUER.
THE NATIONAL LAND SCHEME.—O'CONNOR (M.P.) v. BRADSHAW.
On Thursday week the trial of an action for libel was begun in this case
before the Chief Baron and a special jury. The defendant (the proprietor
of the Nottingham Journal) pleaded a justification.
Mr. Serjeant Wilkins opened the plaintiff's case by reading
the alleged libel, which was in the following terms:—
"The subscribers to the National Land Company, and the
admirers of Feargus O'Connor, Esq., M.P. for Nottingham, who has wheedled
the people of England out of £100,000, with which he has bought estates
and conveyed them to his own use and benefit, and all who are desirous to
witness the overthrow of this great political impostor, should order the
Nottingham Journal, in which his excessive honesty in connexion
with the Land Plan has been, and will continue to be, fearlessly exposed.
The Nottingham Journal is the largest newspaper allowed by law; and
is the best vehicle in this county or neighbourhood for advertisements,
business information, and general news. Delivered everywhere early
every Friday morning.—Price only 4½d: per annum, in advance, 18s; credit,
20s."
The learned sergeant proceeded by observing, that, if ever
there was a libel rendered undignified by the mode in which it was framed,
and the object for which it was disseminated, it was that which he had
read. It was a specimen of patriotism wrapped up in dirty paper.
(A laugh.) All he should add, in conclusion, was, let the defendant
attempt to prove that libel if he dared.
Evidence was then given in the usual way, that the defendant,
Mr. Bradshaw, is the registered proprietor of the Nottingham Journal,
and that copies of the placard in question were obtained at defendant's
office in Nottingham.
Mr. Roebuck addressed the Jury for the defendant, supporting
the plea of justification.
The hearing of the case occupied the whole of Thursday,
Friday, and Saturday.
On the latter day, the Chief Baron, at the close of the
defence, summed up. He said that it was very possible that the
errors into which Mr. O'Connor had fallen were to be attributed to this
fact, that he was a sanguine, unthinking man, and that, eager in the
pursuit of an object no doubt delightful to contemplate, he had been
betrayed by his enthusiasm into errors and oversights which left his
proceedings open to suspicion. It was for the jury, however, to
consider what the defendant had meant by the word "dishonesty." If
he meant to say to Mr. O'Connor, "Your scheme is a political imposition,
and you have not fully and honestly stated as much as you were bound to
have stated with reference to it," why then there could be no doubt that
enough had come out on the trial to show that the defendant's plea had
been made out; but if the jury thought that he meant to impute personal
dishonesty to the plaintiff in his individual capacity, the case then
stood in a totally different position. A man might be as
philanthropic in his intentions as a Howard or a Cartwright; but he had no
right under heaven to collect such a sum as £112,000, and to place it in
such a position that not one of the subscribers would have any legal right
of control over it. If Mr. O'Connor had unhappily become a bankrupt,
every shilling of the money so collected might have been divided amongst
his creditors. No man had a right to impose such implicit continence
in his own integrity and honour—no man had a right so to set at nought the
vicissitudes of this ever-changing world as to leave it to the chance of
his remaining honest and solvent whether his countrymen should be enabled
to recover the enormous sums they had confided to his guardianship.
There was not the least necessity to have run such a risk, for he might
have placed the money in the hands of three or four persons of undoubted
respectability, who might have signed a paper, stating that they held it
in trust to be handed over to the treasurer of a society which it was in
contemplation to institute.
Mr. Sergeant Wilkins: As to the libel being a libel on Mr.
O'Connor's personal character, allow me to remind your Lordship that it
accuses him of conveying the property to his own use and interest.
The Chief Baron: And that is true; nobody else has a legal
right to it. Of course it would be for the jury to decide on his
bona fides, but it would be also for them to decide on the bona
fides of Mr. Bradshaw. As far as the evidence went, there was no
man under heaven who had the least legal right to one shilling of the
money collected, or to one acre purchased, excepting only Mr. O'Connor.
Every man in the community was responsible to society for the obvious
inferences which might be drawn from his conduct, and could not complain
if those who watched over it should censure him for that which, however
remote it might be from his intention, appeared to be the natural result
of what he had said or done.
The jury retired at five minutes after five o'clock, and in
eighteen minutes returned, and, amid the general hush of expectancy, gave
in the following verdict:—"We find a verdict for the defendant, but beg to
accompany it with the unanimous expression of our opinion that the
plaintiff's character stands unimpeached as regards his personal honesty."
The finding appeared to give general satisfaction to those of
the public who were assembled in the court.
|
____________________________________
THE NORTHERN STAR
AND NATIONAL TRADES JOURNAL.
LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 1850.
SOUTH LONDON CHARTIST HALL.
The first meeting convened under the superintendence of the Provisional
Committee of the National Association, in this hall, was held on Monday
evening, April 22nd, and was more numerously attended than any meeting
held on this side of the water for two years past.
Mr. PATTINSON was unanimously called to the chair, and said, that night
they would not be called upon to support the Parliamentary Reformers, but
to
stand firmly by, and agitate for the People's Charter. He could not
understand, for the life of him, if they expended "all their strength" in
support of the
Parliamentary and Financial Reformers, what use would it be "holding the
Charter in view" when their energies were entirely exhausted. The
resolutions
to be proposed partook both of a political and social character—they were
open to discussion; and should any one have objections to or amendments to
propose, let them come forward, and, as far as he (the chairman) was
concerned, he would do his duty in getting them a full and fair hearing. (Hear, hear.)
He had much pleasure in calling upon Mr. G. W. M. Reynolds to move the
first resolution.
Mr. REYNOLDS, on rising, was greeted with prolonged cheering, and moved the
following resolution:—That as the life, liberty, and property of every
individual is, or may be, affected by the laws of the land in which he
lives; and as every person is bound to pay obedience to the same; and as
no man is,
or can be, actually represented who has not a vote in the election of a
representative, cannot be said to be fairly protected by the laws he is bound
to
obey—this meeting is of opinion that every man in this realm hath a
natural and equal right to vote in the choice of a representative to
parliament; pledges
itself not to give up agitating until the said right is granted to every
man (criminals, insane persons, and infants only excepted), together with
the remaining
points of the People's Charter. This meeting is also of opinion, that any
agitation which will not give to others the same rights they claim for
themselves,
cannot be based on true and just principles—so that, while we refrain
from factious opposition to any such agitation, we are, nevertheless
determined not to
combine nor unite with any such party, conscientiously believing the same
would end in disappointment and dissatisfaction to the most needy and most
deserving of the working classes." Mr. Reynolds said, it gave him great
pleasure to move that resolution, as he was for the "whole Charter," and
had but
little sympathy for those who advocated anything short of that measure. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Reynolds here reiterated his determination to move an
amendment in the programme of the Parliamentary Reforms, at their
Conference, which would commence to-morrow—namely, for registration, in
lieu of
taxation—which would, if adopted, bring them to Universal, or Manhood
Suffrage. (Cheers.) He intended, also, to add Payment of Members. He
should do
so because he believed that any measure less than that embracing the six
points of the Charter would prove injurious to the working classes. (Cheers.) [At
this moment Messrs. J. J. Bezer, Bryson, Martin, Snell, Young, and others
of the liberated victims came on the platform, and were welcomed by hearty
and
prolonged cheering.] Mr. Reynolds said, if any justification was required
for the step he was about to take, they had it in the harsh treatment and
the
severity of the verdicts passed on those men who had just been liberated
from prison—(loud cheers)—and he (Mr. Reynolds) believed that if a less
measure of Parliamentary Reform was obtained, the middle classes would
turn round upon the working classes and say—"This is a final measure, and
,if
you attempt any further agitation you will be prosecuted; we shall be the
jury, and will convict you." (Loud cheers.) The working classes now toiled
almost
day and night for a bare subsistence, and were scarcely thanked for their
labour, and they were not infrequently called "a mere mob" of "the
canaille,"
beings without either rights or privileges. ( Hear; hear.) At a recent
meeting at the National Hall, he had spoken of their social rights; the
Times had seized
upon his speech, evidently with a view to hold him up to scorn as a
spoliator; representing him as having a desire "to sell the estates of the
rich," when he
knew right well that he had said all change must be made by Act of
Parliament, and that as first steps under the Charter, he had recommended
the Repeal
of the Laws of Mortmain, Primogeniture, and Entail; and that he had then
said that parliament did now interfere with private property in the matter
of
railroads, quays, or wharves, granting compensation for the private lands
and property it took for the benefit of the public, and he hoped the time
would
come when a government, elected by the people, would hold all the lands
for the benefit of the whole people. (Tremendous cheering.) There could be
nothing wrong in this, always providing that the present holders were duty
compensated; but if he or any one else were to advocate spoliation, he
verily
believed that he or they would be hissed from the platform. (Loud cheers.) He must confess that he held it to be a wrong and a robbery for one to
have
superfluities, whilst another lacked the positive necessaries of life, and
more especially so when the possessor happened to be a useless, indolent
aristocrat. (Loud cheers.) He maintained that preaching Socialism, as well
as Chartism, was only acting in accordance with the dictates of Common
Sense; it would be worse than useless to occupy time and means in advocacy
of the Charter, unless the Charter led to the adoption of social rights. (Hear,
hear.) Socialism meant finding employment for the unemployed, food for the
hungry, and raiment for the naked. Socialism was horrified at the gross
immorality and the mass of prostitution that prevailed in our streets; and
the numerous suicides that took place amongst those unfortunates, was a
proof
that such a mode of life was unnatural and most abhorrent to them. Where
was the wisdom or patriotism of Parliament, when they looked on and saw
gaunt famine prevail in Ireland—when they daily witnessed scenes of
wretchedness and misery which drove poor wretches to the poor-law bastile,
and
separated husbands from wives, and parents from their offspring? (Hear.) Yet did these rulers call themselves Christians, whilst they violated the
fundamental rules of Christianity. (Hear, hear) And here the genius of
Socialism stepped in to perform its great mission of humanity; and be
conceived that
man could be their friend, who would attempt to stay its progress. (Loud
cheers.) When they witnessed the enormous progress this principle was
making
in France he was sure that they could come to no other conclusion than
that Socialism was a compound of sublime facts. (Loud cheering.) Sure he
was,
did Socialism prevail, rags and wretchedness would be chased out of
existence. (Loud cheers.) Mr. Reynolds next reviewed the origin and
progress of
aristocracy, and asked was it wonderful that men so formed and trained,
should be the deadly enemies of Chartism and Socialism, seeing that those
measures would lay the axe to the root of their tyrannic and oppressive
privileges? Then, he said, let them discuss the social subject, and when
the
Charter came—as come it would—(tremendous cheering)—Socialism would be
the legitimate question. (Hear, hear.) The upper and middle classes
appeared to dread increasing intelligence of their working class brethren,
and were apparently throwing a small modicum of reform by way of a sop to
stay
their progress. (Hear, hear.) The working classes had been deluded in 1832,
and again on the repeal of the Corn Laws. Hence, he said, stand staunch to
principles, join the ranks of the National Charter Association, remember
that every one of the members of its Provisional Committee are the
advocates of
political and social rights. (Loud cheers.) Support their efforts, and
give vitality to the veritable National Charter Association; be firm and
true, and political
rights and social privileges must soon be theirs. Mr. Reynolds resumed his
seat amidst rapturous applause.
Mr. D. W. RUFFY, in seconding the resolution, asked why he was there
tonight, seeing that he had retired from politics for some few years? It
was
because the cries of his suffering fellow-men was more than he could bear. (Hear, hear.) They owed those brave fellows who had just emerged from the
bastile, and now stood on the platform, a deep debt of gratitude—(loud
cheers)—and which he thought they would best repay by convincing them
they were
more determined than ever to gain their rights and liberties. (Loud
cheers.) The resolution held in his hand contained the gems of great
and glorious
principles, principles which proved that when they came from their Creator
they were free and that the earth and its fruits belonged by right to all.
(Great
cheering.) He trusted that the working classes would not be frightened at
any bugbear their opponents might put forward. (Hear, hear.) Socialism
meant
co-operation, and when the working classes could appreciate its blessings
they would co-operative for themselves. (Applause.) When the working man
had his pittance doled out to him on Saturday nights he had to count it
over and over again before he could tell how to spend it, so as to
preserve an
existence for the coming week for himself, wife and family. As regarded
the sympathy of the middle classes, God help them! he had seen enough of
that
whilst performing the duties of Inspector of Weights and measures, for his
district. (Hear, hear.) If they required veritable sympathy and support
they must
look for it amongst their own order, and look neither to middle nor upper
class, but band themselves together, determinedly bent on obtaining their
full
rights and privileges. In their agitation, let them remember that the
comparative failure in France had resulted from the ignorance of her
citizens of their
social rights, which caused the provinces to act against the capital. Then
let them make themselves acquainted with their social rights, and so long
as
they could use hand, tongue, or pen, let them never cease agitating until
were in full possession of political rights and social privileges. (Great
cheering.)
Mr. J. J. BEZER was now introduced by the chairman, and was greeted with
great cheering. He said he was a most grateful man, the Whigs had been
very very kind to him and he exhibited his gratitude by attending the very
first Chartist meeting after his liberation. (Laughter.) His eighty-six
weeks' confinement had not reformed him, except it had changed his mind a little;
when he went to prison he thought principles were right, but now he was
sure
they were. (Cheers.) A brother radical had met him coming to that meeting,
and shook him cordially by the hand, and asked him did he mean to cause
the
meeting to laugh? He hoped the meeting would remember that, although
eighty-six weeks' incarceration had not broken his heart, yet he could not
conceive that Newgate's sombre walls were calculated to enliven his
spirits or make him gay—(hear, hear)—more especially when he remembered
he had
left their honest uncompromising friend (John Shaw) immured within its
walls. He had heard, too, (what should he, as a loyal man, call them,)
wicked
speeches. He was not a learned man, although he had been called to the
bar, (laughter)—and when there, his learned brother, her Majesty's
Attorney-General, had said, pointing to him (Mr. Bezer.) "The prisoner has
positively offered to sell Lord John Russell a pike—a pike, yes,
gentlemen, a
pike." (Roars of laughter.) Ah, it was easy for them to laugh, but allow
him to say it put all the old ladies in court into a state of "Terroris
extremis."
(Increased laughter.) Well, he had told them that he was not a learned
man, but he had searched Johnson, Entick, and others, and had there found
that a
pike was a fish, and of course, by a parity of reasoning, a fish was a
pike. (Laughter.) Well, as they all knew he was a City merchant, he dealt
in fish, and,
of course, merchant-like, wished to have the patronage of the first
Minister of the Crown; but instead of giving him (Mr. Bezer) an order for
the pike, he had
given him an order for the "Stone Jug", (Laughter and applause.) When
there, he had been visited by the magistrates; one in particular
said:—"Oh, you are
Bezer—you are a fool— I don't pity you—you not only get yourself into
trouble, but you endeavour to get others into trouble by your talk—ah,
'twas lucky for
you that you did not attempt to march from Kennington Common, for I so
suppose you were there, or you would all have been annihilated, for I had
command of the bridges; one did come roaring out, I am a
Chartist—brandishing his stick—I took it from him and threw it into the
water; can I do any thing
for you?" Yes, he wished to see his wife—"for what reason?" Because he
was a husband and father. (Loud cheers.) "Oh! that's no reason." Four
times
had this "Commander of Bridges" visited him and repeated the same tale;
but he hoped the meeting would not think the "Commander" was Mr. Alderman
Farebrother. (Loud laughter.) He trusted be was addressing three parties
met into one; viz., Chartists, Socialists, and Republicans; and he
conceived that
any one who attempted to create disunion was a rascal. He knew they were
called queer names sometimes, but somehow or other, they possessed
natural affections notwithstanding, but he trusted for the future to make
amends. Mr. Bezer then called for three cheers for John Shaw, which were
heartily given to and resumed his seat greatly applauded.
Mr. SIDE said he did not stand there to oppose the resolution; he admired
the Charter and had been a member of the National Union of the Working
Classes, from whom some of them had sprung. The chairman had intimated
that the Charter League was going for the little Charter, leaving the
People's
Charter in perspective; but no one had ever said so. He and the Charter
League contended, that Chartism would be facilitated by anything the
Parliamentary Reformers might gain (Oh! oh! and laughter.) He believed,
that if the Parliamentarians gained what they were seeking that the
Charter would
follow in six months. (Oh! oh! Laughter, and derisive cheers.) Why, those
who were admitted to the franchise now must be of the poorer classes, as
every person paying four shillings and sixpence per week rent now, could
have the franchise if they liked. (No, no.) Working men might even
improve their sanitary condition, by taking £50 houses conjointly—each apartment of the
clear value of £10—giving the vote. Again, that portion of the middle
classes
called shopkeepers, were interested in the working men getting better
wages. (Shouts of derisive cheers and laughter.) Why, would not they have
more
money to spend with them? (Derisive cheers and laughter.)
Mr. ELLIOT said he had been opposed to the Parliamentarians from the first,
believing as he did that the middle classes lived entirely on what they
rung
from the industrial class. (Cheers.) Hence he called on all to join the
National Charter Association. Let those who produced all be firm, and
stand together;
and, whilst they support tailors, shoemakers, printers, &c., in their
associations, still keep pushing onwards, and, depend upon it, home
colonies would
follow. (Cheers.)
The resolution was then put, and carried unanimously.
Mr. STALLWOOD rose to move the second resolution as follows;—"That this
meeting is of opinion that a government fully possesses the means to carry
out the organisation of productive labour, not only so far as regards the
production of property, but also to guarantee to the producers a fair
share of such
production; and this meeting pledges itself not to lose sight of so
important a question, but to agitate and discuss the same, so that in the
event of a
government being elected on the principles of pure democracy the question
may be fully understood, and speedily put into practice." Mr. Stallwood
said he
was most happy to propose that resolution. The political one had preceded
it, and was the "means"; the one he now proposed was a social one, which
was the "end." His friend (if he would permit him to call him so) Mr. Side
had said he had belonged to the National Union of the Working Classes. He
(Mr. Stallwood) had also belonged to that body. This being so, Mr. Side had
been a political and social reformer, as the declaration of rights embodied in the
rules of that defunct association would show; and he (Mr. Stallwood )
hoped Mr. Side would soon retrace his steps, and be again a social as well
as a
political reformer. (Cheers.) It seemed somewhat extraordinary to him how
Mr. Side could have fallen into so many errors. He had told them that "any
occupier of a house of the clear yearly value of £10, could have a vote if
he liked." Now, he (Mr. Stallwood) would like to possess a vote; yet,
although he
rented a house of the clear yearly value of £10, he had not, or could not,
under present circumstances, obtain the vote,—(hear,)—and his was by no
means a
singular case; no person who resided either in Fulham, Hammersmith,
Kensington, or Chelsea, could have a vote, unless possessed of the county
qualification. (Hear, hear.) Again Mr. Side had said, houses of £50 a year
rent, could be taken conjointly, and each clear £10 would give a vote. Now
it was
known that with the exception of places let out as chambers, landlords
would not let houses in the way described, but simply to individuals, and
if the
landlord resided on the premises, why his residence, as has been decided
over and over again, damnified the rights of all the lodgers. (Hear,
hear.) Then
Mr. Side had asserted that the middle class shopkeepers were interested in
getting better wages, when it was a well known fact that the workmen got
as
much as he could for his labour, and the employer gave as little as
possible. (Hear.) Besides did not common sense now say to the workman—you
have
worked long enough for others, co-operate, and divide the whole profits
arising from labour amongst the producers? (Cheering.) Mr. Stallwood then
gave a
description of the reception of the working classes at a recent
Parliamentary and Financial Reform dinner; showed the difference between
the little and
great Charter; illustrated the progress of Socialism as evinced in the
progress of the tailors', shoemakers', printers', etc., etc., co-operative
societies, and
urged them onwards in the good work. Mr. Stallwood resumed his seat amidst
great applause.
Mr. MILNE in seconding the resolution, said it contained the great and
all-moving principle of social reform—(hear, hear)— and he believed, if
they once got a
taste of the blessings of co-operation, it would make them better
Chartists, as they would have the vote to protect it. (Hear, hear.) A
gentleman in that hall,
in the preceding meeting had said "The Charter and something more." What
more? He apprehended by this time the gentleman comprehended, that
something more meant social rights. (Loud cheers). Foreign politics had
been deprecated, but foreign politics had taught him much; he had seen how
matters stood in France from a want of a knowledge of social rights; and
he had determined to do his best to prevent such a catastrophe here. (Loud
cheers).
The resolution was then put and carried unanimously.
Messrs. BISHOP, BENTLEY and
other friends from the City locality, came forward and sung the "Marsellaise"
amidst rapturous applause.
A vote of thanks was given by acclamation to the chairman; three cheers
were given for Ernest Jones, and the other victims now incarcerated; three
cheers for the Charter and our social rights. £1.16s.10d was collected at
the doors as the meeting broke up, and we learn that a gentleman also
presented
10s. on the platform. Thus peaceably, though joyously, ended the first and
most enthusiastic meeting convened by the provisional Committee in South
London. |
____________________________________
THE NORTHERN STAR
AND NATIONAL TRADES JOURNAL.
LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 27, 1850.
OVERFLOWING MEETING AT THE JOHN STREET INSTITUTION, ON BEHALF OF THE
INCARCERATED POLITICAL VICTIMS, CONVENED BY THE PROVISIONAL COMMITTEE OF
THE NATIONAL CHARTER ASSOCIATION.
_________________
Tuesday evening, April 23rd, having been set apart for the
victims, at an early hour the Hall was filled to overflowing.
Mr. J. ARNOTT was unanimously called to
the chair, and briefly opened the proceedings by announcing that thirteen
of their liberated brethren, who had passed the fiery ordeal, were
restored to them, and now stood on that platform. (Immense, cheering.)
He would call on Mr. Ruffy to move the following resolution:—"That this
meeting is of opinion that imprisonment, or any other punishment, for the
expression of political sentiments is a gross violation of that freedom of
speech, which is one of the recognised rights of the people; and this
meeting is further of belief that it is the duty of the people to labour
unceasingly for the liberation of their friends, and the abrogation of
those unjust enactments under which they were imprisoned, with the view of
preventing future outrages upon the right of public discussion."
Mr. RUFFY said, they were there
to-night to protest against a government illegally constituted. They
were there to protect against the harshness with which their brethren had
been treated. They were there to protest against the violation on of
justice that had been committed; and they were there to bear witness to
the heroic virtues of their liberated brethren. (Great cheering.)
He believed there was not a friend to justice or freedom but would agree
to that resolution. They met in that Hall, night after night, to
discuss remedies, simply because they found their fellow men oppressed,
and nearly destitute of the requirements of life. (Hear, hear.)
Last night he was informed that a gentlemen was lecturing in that Hall on
arts and sciences connected with what was termed the great exposition of
industry for 1851. He thought the greatest of all science, was the
science of government. Now, could he have his way, he would have a
space in the building set apart, and call it the Ark of Government: in the
centre of which he would have placed a certain little lady (of course he
did not mean the Queen of these realms,) surrounded by all the tinsel and
gew-gaw of the Court, and place over the head of the wax figure a large
label, inscribed with the cost per day, which, summed up, makes all per.
annum the gross total of £385,000. True, he should be at some loss
to describe the figure represented by the model. Perhaps it would
not be appropriate to designate it "chief creator of sinners."
Immediately opposite, he would have the model of a prince, (a foreign one
of course) with his cost £30,00 per annum, labelled conspicuously, and his
designation should be "second chief creator of sinners." Facing
these he would have placed a distressed needle woman, whose hard toil was
requited by 2½d. per day. In another corner he would have the bench
of Bishops, with their crosiers, mitres, and lawn, inscribed with "cost
ten millions per annum." (Hear, hear.) Facing these he would
have placed some of the unfortunate creatures driven to prostitution, and
over these he would, have placed a label, "effect of state Christianity."
(Loud cheers.) Again, facing these he would have a picture of
contented workmen following rational employment—wives and child in back
grounds—with school rooms, pleasure ground, libraries, &c., and, as a
companion picture, he would have men, women and children, free from care,
with pleasure and wisdom depicted in their countenances, happiness
reigning in their bosoms, revelling on the green sward in leisure hours.
Over these he would have inscribed, "Socialism as it shall be under the
glorious rule of the People's Charter." (Immense and long continued
applause.) It was now something like twenty years since he commenced
in the movement, and he had seen little or no real progress, and it was
time that they commenced to do something practical: this could only be
effected by the discussion of their social rights. (Hear, hear.)
Social rights would bring the land back to those to whom is naturally
belonged, viz., the whole people. (Loud cheers.) How came it
that those men, who were just liberated, had been confined? Simply,
because they attempted to waken the feeling of the people to a sense of
their just rights. He had very great pleasure in submitting that
resolution to their consideration, (Loud cheers.)
Mr. T. BROWN, in seconding the
resolution said—The principal purpose of their meeting to night was to
memorialise the government for the release of those political prisoners
still in confinement, and whose treatment was most scandalous, and was a
clear indication that the Chartists had not done their duty. (Hear.)
Some of those men recently liberated, had, for the cause, sacrificed home,
friends, employment, etc., and one or two of them were in that most
unenviable position of having no home to go to,— (hear)—whilst from the
long absence of husbands and fathers, some of the homes of others were
reduced to be nearly as desolate as the gloomy cells from which they had
just emerged. (Hear, hear.) He thought it their duty, not only
to send one but many memorials. (Hear, hear.) He had heard
expressions fall from noble lords much stronger than any for which Bezer
and others had been convicted, which clearly proved it to be a party
affair. (Hear, hear.) The men had been treated most harshly in
prison, and it was high time that they aroused themselves on behalf of
their incarcerated suffering fellow men. (Cheers.) Be it
remembered, that those men not virtually criminals, theirs were only
political crimes, and in such cases that were denominated as great crimes
and misdemeanours to day, were extolled as great and heroic virtues to
morrow. (Loud cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN now introduced Mr. J. J.
Bezer, one of the liberated victims who was greeted with a most rapturous
welcome. He said: On the 28th July, 1848, he was on the platform of
the Milton-street Institution, but at the same date in 1849 he found
himself in quite a different place. And why? because he had spoken
freely, and he meant what he then said. (Hear.) He recollected one
sentence he had uttered to the government reporters; it was "They were
there, not because he feared the government, but because the government
feared the uneducated costermonger,"—(great cheering)—and his saying had
been verified. When brother Shaw got out he should have a tale to
tell them. (Three cheers were called for, and heartily given, for
John Shaw.) On the occasion some of his friends had advised him to
go out of the way, and he had taken himself to Highgate; only five persons
knew were he was, and one of them had proved a Judas by selling the secret
for sixty pieces of copper—yes, for five shillings. (Hear, hear.)
Well, he was arrested, tried, as it was called, and convicted, of course;
and what was he convicted with? Why, with conspiring against Her
Majesty, her crown, and dignity. (Laughter.) Now, really, he
had never mentioned the little lady's name; but he was told the people,
they—the producers of wealth—were respectable; of course, this was
seditious—truth and sedition being synonymous terms. (Loud cheers.)
Well, he was now out of prison, in mind and principle a wiser man than
when he went, (cheers)—and to use a lady's expression—"He was as well as
could be expected,"—(laughter)— and so he ought to be, considering that
in eighty-six weeks he had swallowed, upon a fair computation, three
hogsheads of skilly. (Laughter) Well, it appeared that Popes
ran away, Kings had their whiskers shaved off—(laughter)—and stand ye
firm, for the poet has written—
"Mitres and Thrones from this world shall be
hurled,
And Peace and Brotherhood through the universe
prevail."
|
(Great cheering.)
BRONTERRE O'BRIEN
was next introduced amidst applause, and said, the first thing he had to
do was to congratulate them on having a baker's dozen of the liberated
victims present—(loud cheers)—and it was a great pleasure to know that
they had come out better men than they went in. It was pleasing to know
that persecution and imprisonment had failed in damping their energies for
the People's Charter. (Cheers.) Their friend Shaw, and their gallant young
friend Ernest Jones, and the other martyrs, were imprisoned for their
excess of virtue. Free Traders had attended meetings—made speeches—and
murder had sense ensued: but those men had not been treated as Ernest
Jones was—why? because that patriot had been tried by a Whig government,
and middle class vampires. (Cheers.) He (Mr. O'Brien) could see far into
the future. Their friend Bezer had told them that kings had had their
whiskers shaved off, and prophesied their heads would follow their
whiskers. (Loud cheers.) He thought that violent speeches (although he did
not anticipate any) would injure, not benefit, their cause. It was was not only necessary that the twelve hundred persons present should
be up to the mark, but also the floating millions out of doors, and how to
get at these men was the subject worthy of consideration. He would most
respectfully and deferentially call the attention of Harney, Vernon, and
their other friends, to the matter, with a view of finding a remedy. Oh!
he wished be could show them a letter from their friend Leyno in Paris,
addressed to the Irishman, in which he asked his countrymen not to confine
themselves to Universal Suffrage, but to direct their attention to their
social rights. (Cheers.) And he wished he could induce his and their
friend Harney to say what no meant by that "something more" than the
Charter. The National Reform League had endeavoured to explain what it
meant by social rights. Its members had issued seven resolutions, which
resolutions would be stereotyped in Manchester, Glasgow, and London. So
much confidence did the friends of the Reform League place in the
principles contained in those resolutions, that they had resolved, if
possible, to get thirty millions of them distributed in Europe—(loud
cheers)—fifteen millions of them on the continent. His wish was that
those resolutions should be discussed as a means to obtain social rights. He wished his and their friend Harney would lend his assistance in
inducing his continental friends to translate and circulate the principles
of those resolutions, placing them in the hands of those who are now
actively engaged preparing the mighty future. (Great cheering.) Anybody
might make a profession of Chartism or Republicanism. Even Louis Napoleon
called himself a Republican; and well he might, seeing that the Republic
had given him six millions of votes—thereby making him the first man in
France, whereas nature had made him the last. (Laughter, and cheers.) Mr. O'Brien concluded by making an eloquent appeal to the meeting to give
liberally to the Victim Fund, seeing that the victims had sacrificed so
largely for them, and resumed his sent much applauded.
Mr. W. J. VERNON said, he felt much pleasure in supporting that
resolution, especially as he found himself—right and left—surrounded by
those who had recently been liberated from prison. (Hear.) He contended
that punishment should never be inflicted unless it had a tend tendency to
prevent a recurrence of the crime for which it was inflicted. Well, just
suppose that in 1848 they had attempted to overthrow the government, the
only punishment justice and wisdom would have inflicted, would have been
an attempt to convince the insurgents of the error of their ways; but
nothing of the sort had ever been attempted, but recurrence to brute force
had been freely indulged in. (Hear, hear.) Mr. O'Brien had said, all the
men had come out better Chartists. Speaking from his own experience he
said, they had all come out much more than Chartists, and this would ever
be the case; where brutality was practised it never could induce love, but
must engender piece and deadly hate. (Hear, hear.) As the only piece of
advice he was likely to offer Sir G. Grey,
in a civil way, he said, try kindness, and if that failed give up the
point. (Loud cheers.) Mr. O'Brien had asked, what was meant by something
more than the Charter? and had commended seven resolutions issued by the
Reform League. He (Mr. Vernon) had not seen the seven resolutions, but
would make it a point to do so, and consider them minutely, and if he
found them to contain a full measure of social rights, he would do all in
his power to circulate them and insure their adoption in practice. (Cheers.) What he meant by something more was, in plain terms, "that the
Producer of wealth should enjoy the full measure of such produce." (Lead
cheers.)
The resolution was them put, and carried unanimously.
JULIAN HARNEY, who, on coming forward was received with great applause,
said: He should consider it out of place to say much on any other subject
than the one pointedly before them, viz., that of the memorial he was
about to propose on behalf of their incarcerated brethren. (Hear.) But, nevertheless,
he would say in reply to the observations of Mr. O'Brien, that his (Mr. Harney's)
"something more" included the seven excellent resolutions of Mr. O'Brien,
and still something more. (Great cheering.) He then read the
following memorial—
To the Right Hon. Sir George Grey, her Majestey's Secretary of State, this
Memorial, adopted at a Public Meeting, held at the Literary and Scientific
Institution, John-street, Fitzroy-square,
SHEWETH that the memorialists have experienced great satisfaction from the
exercise of the Government's clemency in liberating from prison some of
the persons who, in the year 1848, were convicted of sedition, and other
political offences.
They deplore, however, that the Government has not extended the same
humane consideration and mitigation of punishment to others, who
still remain in penal confinement, in consequence of convictions on similar
charges.
The memorialists, therefore, earnestly and respectfully entreat the
Government, to enlarge to sphere of their mercey, and to restore to
liberty Ernest Charles Jones, Joseph J. J. Fussel, John Shaw, Peter Murray
McDouall, Francis Looney, and the others now suffering imprisonment in
various goals in many parts of the Kingdom, for the expression of their
political opinions.
The memorialists beg leave to give the assurance that by restoring these
men to their homes, the Government will secure to themselves the gratitude
of their families and friends, the esteem of the humane, and the
approbation of the great body of the working classes.
Signed on behalf of the meetings,
JOHN ARNOTT, Chairman.
A gentleman in the body of the meeting asked why the name of Mitchel was
not included in the memorial?
JULIAN HARNEY replied that the memorial was founded on the liberation of
their friends on the platform, but he begged to say that they had not
forgotten the glorious patriot Mitchel, and he and his colleagues would at
any time work with their Irish brethren to obtain the freedom of that
heroic man, and the other noble spirits who are suffering for their
devotion to long oppressed Ireland. (Much applause.) [Press of matter
compels the ommision of Mr. Harney's speech.]
Mr. WALTER COOPER, on being announced, was greeted with a most cordial
welcome. He said he thought the best thing he could do at that late hour
was, simply to second the resolution and resume his seat. (Loud cries of
"No, no.") Well, then, he would say a few words. Their friend Harney has
alluded to their late and respected friend, Henry Hetherington, who
sometimes entertained them with an anecdote of a farmer who called his
poultry together, to ask them what sauce they would like to be eaten with;
at which they clapped their wings, and cried "bravo," with the exception
of a young cock, which Henry Hetherington called the Chartist cock, and he
declined to be eaten at all. "Ah," said the farmer, "that's not the
question." "Yes," said the cock, "that's the vital question to me." (Loud
cheers.) It was too often the way with the people—that they often cheered
before they knew what they were cheering for. The people sought justice,
which all the privileged classes of tyranny could never entirely eradicate
from their minds. (Loud cheers.) He had often been amused by the cries of
the party of "Order and Religion," put forward to excite and prejudice the
minds of the people against progression. First they had "The Church in
Danger," but this had become stale, and the people would no longer rally
to it. The second was, "The Throne in Danger," this had proved very
powerful. The judge who had tried Thomas Muir, had said—"The English
Constitution was the best that ever was or ever would be established." However, they did not think so. Well, another cry was Family, Property and
Order; this was taken up in France, and was finding its way here. Family
was quite right, everybody felt affection for the human family; but he
maintained that none had a right to surround themselves by such
circumstances as would enable one family to swallow up the blood and
marrow of other families. Mr. Cooper here quoted paragraph from one Mr. Jame's novels—showing that there was but little difference between the
kings of the earth and those of merry Sherwood, except that the Robin
Hoods were the best. This very apposite paragraph elicited the most hearty
applause. He did not think it right, in order to keep up family, that the
Duke of Bedford should hold lands, give him for dubious services, by Henry
VIII., which, by-the-by, Henry had no right to—property in this case
being robbery, and he no where found history relating any great talents
the original Bedfords ever possessed. (Hear, hear.). This question of
property might be very well, but who could show God's handwriting for a
single acre? What was property? All besides land was the result of
labour,
and, therefore, Proudhon was not far wrong, when he said property was
theft. He held that the Nazarene and his disciples were quite right in
declaring "That he who would not work neither should he eat." (Great
applause.) When he was asked what he meant by "the Charter and something
more," he distinctly said—he meant God's earth for God's
creatures—property for those who produced it! (Great cheering.) It was
cant and humbug to tell the people they were intelligent when they are
not. He gloried in Bronterre O'Brien telling them that much required to be
done in the way of instruction. A better illustration of this could not be
given than the knowledge, that a body of boot and shoemakers had been on
the strike, keeping their men out of work for a long time, at a cost of
£350, and now they were obliged to go to their work worse men than when
they left it. (Hear, hear.) Another body of the same trade was about to
follow their example. Why waste capital and labour thus? Why not work for
themselves, and have all the profits? Why with the same amount of capital,
the tailors had rescued a number of their fellows from poverty and
wretchedness, and set an example to the world. Two branches of shoemakers
had done the same—the needle women had followed suit, and the builders
were meeting every night to see how they could effect a similar object. (Loud cheers.)
Mr. GERALD MASSEY said, 1,800 years ago the Christ of Nazareth preached
Equality and Fraternity, but the Pharisees at that day shouted out, "away
with him,—crucify him." Rienzi had found men ignorant enough to persecute
him; and even at this day Ernest Jones was being tortured out of
existence. This true poet of labour had thought, when Rome threw off her
Pope, that Englishmen—the descendants of Hampden and Milton—would have
been prepared. He had hoped that the spirit of Leonidas still prevailed,
but misery and degradation had done their work; the people in by-lanes and
back alleys had fallen a prey to priests, who preached of gods of wrath,
and of hells of torture as though they were the devil's own salamanders;
but the day would come when thrones and aristocrats would no longer hang
as millstone about their necks. (Loud cheers.)
The memorial was then put, and adopted by acclamation.
Mr. HARNEY, in moving a vote of thanks to the Chairman, passed a high
eulogy to the memories of Williams and Sharp, and made an eloquent appeal
on behalf of the Williams and Sharp Widow and Orphans' Fund. The vote of
thanks was carried by acclamation.
Three cheers were then given for "Ernest Jones," three for the "Charter
and Social Rights," three for the candidature of "Eugene Sue," and the
meeting then quietly dispersed.
Four pound ten shillings were collected at the door, and several members,
enrolled in the Association. |
____________________________________
LYON v. HOME. ____________
FROM
THE ILLUSTRATED POLICE NEWS.
Gerald Massey's Affidavit. [1868]
Mr. Gerald
Massey, of Ward's Hurst, Herts, in his affidavit, said: On the 28th of
December, 1866, I met Mr. Home and Mrs. Lyon for the first time. It
was at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Carter Hall. Since that time
I have seen a great deal of Mr. Home, and have never had the slightest
reason to look upon him other than as a man of the most honourable
character and kindliest disposition; in fact a gentleman whom I should
judge to be quite incapable of any such business as had been laid to his
charge. In company with Mr. Home I called twice on Mrs. Lyon, and
once I called alone and breakfasted with her, at her lodgings at
Knightsbridge, and sat alone with her for several hours afterwards, and on
each occasion she went more or less over the story of her meeting with
Home, and told me her motives in adopting him as her son and heir.
She said that since the death of her husband she had been alone in the
world, nobody to care for her. She had adopted Mr. Home as her child
to have some one to love, some one to show her affection to. She had
given him £30,000 right off, she said to make him independent of
everybody—independent even of herself so that there should be nothing
ambiguous in their relationship in the eyes of the world. I
understood her also to say that she should make him the inheritor of her
wealth. She stated that she had sought out Mr. Home, and not Mr.
Home her. She had sought him out in the first instance, she
observed, because she was a believer in what is called spiritualism.
She had been a believer all her life, and accustomed to have visions from
her childhood upwards. Of these she related several being very
anxious to impress me with her great natural gifts in this respect.
Mr. Home had been shown to her in one of her visions, and that she had
recognised him immediately they met. Indeed, she said that her
husband, before his death, had foretold her adopting a son. She
stated the number of years she was to be after her husband's death and
told me the time was up. She said she knew Mr. Home as the son of
her adoption the moment she set eyes upon him. She was very open in
speaking of what she had done for Mr. Home, and for what she intended yet
to do. In regard to her gift of so large a sum, instead of making
him depend on her for an allowance, she asked me if she had not done
rightly. I replied that I thought she had done an uncommonly
handsome thing. I inquired of Mrs. Lyon if she had acted from
anything said or done at any of Mr. Home's séances. She assured me
most emphatically that she had not, and that nothing of the sort had taken
place at their early interviews beyond her personal liking. She took
constant delight in hearing Mr. Home relate his astonishment at her
proposals, her gifts being so unsought and unexpected; and, from what I
saw of Mrs. Lyon, I should take her to be one of the last persons in the
world to be influenced by any will save her own. For example, she
has taken a dislike to something done by Mr. Home's son, and nothing could
soften her feeling against the child, or bend her resolute will, although
this was very painful to Mr. Home. Her mind was made up, and there
was nothing more to be said. From all that I saw of Mrs. Lyon's
relationship to Mr. Home, I should say that her will was the dominant one.
She made him do pretty much as she pleased, even to the going on errands
for her, and carrying home trivial articles for her. She called him
her child, and assuredly treated him as one. I saw him do very
humiliating things, and put up with very strong displays of Mrs. Lyon's
will. I once remarked to him, "I could not stand that for £30,000 a
year." His reply was, "Oh, you do not know mother; she likes to have
her way, but she is kindness itself." I saw plainly enough that she
liked to have her way, and I saw that she had it. My observation
would lead me to assert that the charge of Mr. Home's power and ascendancy
over Mrs. Lyon is the grossest fiction, and impudently absurd on the face
of it. Why, in the charge of "undue influence" by spirit means, the
falsehood to my mind stands already manifest, for Mrs. Lyon rated her own
power of mediumship, far above everything shown by Mr. Home. So far
did she carry this, that I once told her I thought she was jealous of his
alleged powers; but she soon demonstrated that she had no need to be after
such remarkable things as had occurred to her. She, indeed, even spoke
with disapproval of Mr. Home's being sometimes in trances, and having
séances, because she said it weakened his natural power. So far from
being easily swayed, I found that Mrs. Lyon would agree with nothing she
did not like, or that did not suit her view. On the other hand, so
potent was Mrs. Lyon's power and ascendancy over Mr. Home, that I foresaw
it would in all likelihood be fatal to one so frail in health as Mr. Home;
and I was one of the first, I think, to advise that he should make an
effort to gain a little more personal freedom. I saw that he had a
great difficulty in getting away from her, and that she was very jealous
of him going anywhere without her. I am aware of more than one
engagement he was not able to keep on this account. Mrs. Lyon was
very ambitious of meeting with and being recognised by the class of people
amongst whom cases like Mr. Home's excite the largest amount of curiosity.
I mean persons of title and members of the aristocracy. Mr. Home's
acquaintanceship with such is large; and I found that Mrs. Lyon was
irrepressibly anxious to meet with Lady —, or go to the house of Lord —.
She was greatly gratified with any notice shown to her by a titled lady.
I speak of what I saw. And she was proportionately disappointed if
it happened that Mr. Home was invited where she could not go. Mrs.
Lyon expressed herself as being made very happy by what she had done, and
she was very lavish in her marks of affection towards him. He was
once speaking of some hardship he had undergone in early life, whereupon
Mrs. Lyon embraced him, wept over him real tears, and said how glad she
was to be the means of preventing anything of that kind ever again
occurring. She was at times excessively affectionate. A more
cynical looker-on might have surmised a something too fond and fervent. I
only thought it rather an ostentation exhibition of late motherhood.
______________________ |
THE MEDIUM AND DAYBREAK
Feb. 16, 1877
SOW IT BROADCAST!
A TRACT, BY GERALD MASSEY.
A few hours before going to press we received a copy of a new tract from
the vivid pen of the Poet-Friend of Progress, Gerald Massey. We
alter our arrangements somewhat to give it place. It is the author's
desire that it be presented to Spiritualists at the lowest price, that its
publication may not be a matter of profit, and that all do their duty to
place it in the hands of the people. As soon as the author has
revised it the tract will be issued, price 6d, per 100, post free, or 4s.
per 1,000, carriage extra. We hope to receive orders for hundreds of
thousands. What a grand idea to get the people to sing Spiritualism
into popularity, and the enemies of freedom into oblivion! Thank
God, those who make the "Songs of the People" are essentially
Spiritualists, and they exert that redemptive and enlightening influence
which reform the laws and adapts them to the progressive needs of
humanity.
A CARD.
This is seed for winds to sow,
Spirits guide it where to go!
Bread of Heaven may it grow
For the souls that hunger so. |
The old Spiritualism born of Myth and fed upon Tradition is
dying,—surely dying.
A new and living Spiritualism is as certainly taking its
place.
The old Spiritualism was based on Belief: the new is founded
on the facts of a common Experience.
Its truth is testified to by millions of witnesses and may be
verified by all.
The new Spiritualism offers evidence that spirits in the body
can communicate with disembodied spirits.
It affords proof palpable of the life hereafter.
The new Spiritualism is being Tried publicly in Courts of
Law, at the national expense.
But, as it does not depend upon Professional Mediumship,
there is no need to pay Public Mediums nor to be taxed for their
persecutions.
The truth of the matter can be tested and proved privately in
your own family circles by those who are intent enough to try it for
themselves.
Some persons can see spirits; others hear their voices;
others consciously commune with them, waking or sleeping.
For those who cannot, other means of communication are
possible.
The simplest plan is to form a circle, in the dark or
dimly-lighted room; sit round a table; be in earnest; set no traps, and
tolerate no tricks.
Singing assists; so does prayer—"uttered or unexpressed."
If raps be heard, some one should call over the letters of
the alphabet and put together those at which the raps occur.
If communication be established, do not expect "Revelations"
nor begin by imposing test conditions to prove the personal identity of
the communicating intelligence.
First, be sure of the raps as an abnormal fact, and register
mentally just what does take place! The Fact IS the Revelation; make
what you can of it.
Should more startling manifestations ensue, call in and
consult some one who may be familiar with the phenomena.
Gather round the Table,
When the day is done;
Lay the Electric Cable
That weds two Worlds in one.
We have found the passage
Past the frozen pole;
We have had the Message
Flashing, soul to soul.
Gather round the Table
In a fervent band:
Learn the Lost are able
To join us hand in hand.
With ties no longer riven:
Empty in the Past
We stretch'd our hands toward Heaven,
They are filled at last.
Gather round the Table:
The silent and the meek,
So long belied, are able
For themselves to speak.
Only ope a portal:
Every spirit saith,
Man is born immortal,
And there is no death.
Gather round the Table
By knowledge faith is fed
Ours the fact they fable;
The Presence is the Bread.
Come with cleanliest carriage,
Whitely-pure be dressed:
For this Heavenly Marriage,
Earth should wear its best.
GERALD MASSEY. |
|
__________________________
THE MEDIUM AND DAYBREAK
September 21, 1883.
THE PROPOSED GERALD MASSEY FUND.
To the Editor.—Sir,—The letter which appears in the MEDIUM
headed "a Gerald Massey fund proposed" necessitates a reply from me.
Possibly the light in which I look at it may be a revelation to the
writer. But, considering my position as a exponent of unpopular
thought and an announcer of the unwelcome results of original and
fundamental researches, such a letter might have been written by one of
"the enemy" with the intention of discrediting my sincerity, or of melting
down the metal of one's manhood, and turning the edge of one's weapon,
just when it is called upon for the sharpest cleanest cut. No doubt
the writer meant well, so did Romeo when he stepped in and caused the
death-wound of his dear friend Mercutio, by an action both futile and
fatal. The letter was most injudicious, most unwarranted, most
unauthorized, to say the least of it. Fortunately my sense of the
ridiculous is generally first. I was instantly reminded of Andrew
Jackson Davis who told me that when a deputation once waited upon him
(they DID consult him) to inquire whether he had any
objection to their raising a national subscription, he replied:—"Not in
the least, if you will only guarantee that I shall not be saddled with the
expenses. But, I was also annoyed and chagrined past swearing.
In coming forth to lecture once more, I had no notion of being the
personal herald of a forthcoming subscription to myself. I had no
thought of holding my hat in my hand on the platform, and have no
intention of being posed in that position by any other person. The
writer forces me to explain that whilst inviting Evolutionists, Archæologists, Spiritualists, or others, to listen to a course of
lectures, I entertained no idea of making the "men of wealth and
generosity," by whom the writer of the letter found himself "surrounded,"
conscious that they were being counted for a Poll-Tax; and that
calculations were being made as to how much the fleece would fetch at the
future shearing. I should have thought that was the way to make them
sheer off from my lectures altogether. The writer speaks of my going
forth to face the world with my "tongue in my hand," but better that,
extraordinary as it may be, even though torn out to realize the figure,
than going forth with the tongue in my cheek.
Nor need the writer be distressed at my slender
PERSONEL. I am thin on principle, and have
never carried and ounce of spare flesh. I live by system, and break
no dietary law. My heart is stout, a heart-and-a-half when the pull
is up-hill. It is true that I have suffered from bronchitis; nor
could I shake it off whilst sitting cramped over the desk and working in
the dusty atmosphere of books twelve hours a day seven days a week as I
have done for years. But my first lecture showed we that the full
free clean-sweeping vivifying kind of insufflation which comes to one in
lecturing, will probably clear out the troublesome tubes in another
climate. A thousand-fold more than bronchitis would be the suspicion
that in going to America or Australia I was facing the world with the
begging-box slung furtively at my back! I may now have to publish "a
card" for the purpose of assuring people where-ever I go that such is not
my mission. I am, ever faithfully, GERALD MASSEY. |
__________________________
THE MEDIUM AND DAYBREAK
October 12, 1883.
GEMS FROM "THE NATURAL GENESIS."
THE DRAMA
OF THE MIDNIGHT
MYSTERIES.
The mythical nature of the Christ and his doings and sayings
recorded in the Gospels is not only shown in the psycho-theistic and
doctrinal phase of gnosticism, but can be traced to the natural history of
the phenomenal solar god. As the sun of day and night he was
depicted in the course of navigating nightly through the lower regions
during the twelve hours of darkness. Twelve gates inclose twelve
portions of space. Through these the god passes one by one,
generally having the blessèd on his right hand and the damned upon his
left. The twelve gates correspond to the twelve hours of night
assigned to the sun in the lower hemisphere. The drama of the
midnight mysteries contained the scenery of this passage of the sun below
the horizon.
Har-Khuti, the Lord of Light and of the spirits or glorified
elect ones, the Khu, is an especial form of the divinity who descends and
passes through the twelve doors of the twelve hours of the night, and
there is a formula found on at least six of the doors to this effect:—
"The great god reaches and enters this porch; the great god
is worshipped by the gods who are there." They salute him.
"Let our doors be thrown aside; let our porches open for Pa-Har-Khuti.
He shall illuminate the darkness of the night, and he shall bring light
into the hidden dwelling. The door closes after the entrance of this
great god, and those who are in this porch cry out when they hear this
door shut! and the dwellers of the earth cry out when they hear the door
shut."
This is very suggestive of the parable of the ten virgins and
the bridegroom who comes by night. Har-Khutti is the lord of lights
and of the elect spirits. He too comes at midnight, and the
righteous were supposed to help him through the darkness by having their
lamps ready against his corning. The ten virgins with their ten
lamps are possibly reproduced from the ten uræi upright in the basin of
the uræi, as in one place it is said of each uruæs "Its flame is for Ra,
emitting globes of fire for Ra." The Uræus is a type of Renen, whose
name signifies the virgin, so that ten uræi emitting globes of flame are
equivalent to ten virgins with their lamps of light. Thus we can see
how certain scenes in the hades were, represented in parables.
In the book of the solar passage and the scenes in the lower
hemisphere (Book of the Underworld, translated by M. Deveria) it is said
that "the myth of its mysteries of the lower heaven is so hidden and
profound it is not known to any human being." The transaction of the
sixth hour is expressly inexplicable. In the gospel we read: "Now
from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth
hour." It is in the seventh hour the mortal struggle takes place between
Osiris and the deadly Apophis or the great serpent Haber 450 cubits long,
that fills the whole heaven with its vast folds. The name of this
seventh hour is "that which wounds the serpent Haber." In the
conflict with the evil power thus portrayed the sun-god is designated the
"conqueror of the grave." In the gospel Christ is like-wise set
forth in the supreme struggle as "Conqueror of the grave," for "the graves
were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose."
When the god has overcome the Apophis serpent, his old
nightly, diurnal and eternal enemy, he exclaims, "I come, I have made my
way! I am Horus, the defender of his father. My mother is
Isis. I come for the protection of Osiris. I am Horus, his
beloved son. I have come like the sun through the gate of the one
who likes to deceive and destroy. I have bruised and have passed
pure."
S. E. B. |
__________________________
From...
The Brooklyn Eagle
10 February, 1884.
SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS IN A NEW LIGHT.
Innumerable and diverse as are the opinions and readings of
Shakespeare's dramas, they are far exceeded in the same kind by
Shakespeare's sonnets. Unable, naturally and properly, to frame any
notion of the man from his plays, we hasten with a month's mind to his
sonnets in hope to get at the wonder of his personality. We think we
have attained it at the first reading; but repeated readings involve us in
doubt, often compelling the admission that the more we learn the less we
know. The mistake of most of us is that we accept the outward form
as representative, as veritable even, and we are led, therefore, into
errors that baffle correction. The sonnets, understood personally,
as they usually are, contradict the little we know of the poet's life, and
increase instead of diminishing the mystery of the individual.
Understood dramatically in their entirety, or symbolically as some
commentators claim they should be, does not help the matter. It
should seem that they would be interpreted—so Gerald Massey insists—both
personally and dramatically; and whatever may be thought of his view,
elaborately set forth in "The Secret Drama of Shakspeare's Sonnets
Unfolded, with the Characters Identified," its great ingenuity, its
verisimilitude, can hardly be gainsaid. If a single opinion of a
simple lover of Shakespeare be worth anything, I may frankly say that the
sonnets were to me always more or less enigmatic in respect to the
author's identity with them, until I read Massey's book. This is
very rare, since the edition was limited to 100 copies, for subscribers
alone (there are, I think, but three or four copies in the Republic).
Consequently I have supposed that a synopsis might be interesting to the
many who could not gain access to the work itself. I have forborne,
in the main, to express any judgement of my own, preferring to convey
Massey's ideas, without his language, as clearly and compactly as limited
space will allow.
So many literary folk have taken turns at the sonnets,
especially in the last fifty or sixty years, illuminating them with
darkness rather than light, explaining them opaquely by far fetched
theories, that Massey's generally direct, lucid method appears
exceptional. The ordinary tendency has been, is still, to look upon
the sonnets as autobiographic, which, were they so, would show the
mastermind of the world in such a light that we might wish they had never
been written.
There is abundant internal evidence that the bulk of the
sonnets were the poet's early work; and they certainly have the
characteristics of his youthful composition. The greater portion
were not addressed to William Herbert, as has been declared, but to Henry
Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, Shakspeare's intimate friend, his
generous patron. Sonnet XXVI. thus opens:
"Lord of my love, to whom in vassalage
Thy merit hath my duty strongly knit,
To thee I send this written embassage,
To witness duty, not to show my wit"— |
proving that this was before the singer had appeared in print. He is
too modest to address his patron in a public declaration. He is
willing to wait.
The Earl belonged to the flower of England's chivalry.
Though a gallant soldier, he was denied the scope he needed, by the
ill-will of Elizabeth, whom he more than offended by his impetuosity and
independence of spirit. At first he was a prime favourite of the
Queen, thereby exciting the jealousy of the Earl of Essex, who, like most
courtiers of the time, affected to be fond of Elizabeth in order to
flatter her egregious vanity, and so win her weak side.
Junius Henri Browne.
[Ed. —
See Massey's later (1888) edition, 'The
Secret Drama of Shakspeare's Sonnets'. |
__________________________
From...
The Agnostic Journal
Oct. 3rd, 1891.
MADAME BLAVATSKY ON GERALD MASSEY'S "LECTURES" AND "NATURAL GENESIS."
The following letter explains itself:—
"Editorial Office, 17, Lansdowne Road,
"Holland Park, W., November 2nd, 1887.
"MY DEAR MR.
MASSEY,—My respected Guru in Egyptology, your
correspondent is, for once (?), and yourself too, at sea, in your
conjectures. Whatever the exoteric meaning of the editorial
footnote, its esoteric meaning will become clear in the third number of
Lucifer. I have read and reread your Lectures, and the more I
read them the more I rejoice, for whatever there is in them (except your
unjust pitching, semi-unjust at any rate, into esoteric Buddhist and our
septenary idea) is a corroboration of our esoteric teaching. No man,
not initiated into the 'Gupta Vidya' (secret knowledge) of the Hindus and
Buddhists could, or has, come to better understand the secret of symbolism
in Egypt than you. This I said [say] in so many words in my
forthcoming article, 'The Esoteric Character of the Gospels.' I
quote you constantly, and, for me, you are the only man in Europe and
America who understands that symbolism correctly. Not being much of
an Egyptologist myself, except in those cases where that symbolism is
identical with the Aryan (whether India had it from Egypt, or Egypt from
India, is the business of ethnology and anthropology and the priority of
races), I know, nevertheless, that yours is the correct rendering, simply
because I know the secret symbolism of the Hindu Buddhists. The only
object I have in view is to show this, and I can do so but by glorifying
your esoteric intuition, not by representing it as exoteric. You
differ from us in several important points, such as not accepting the
Avatars, or the spirit, of Christos, Buddha, Krishna, (rather Vishnu), &c.
otherwise than as purely subjective manifestations. We say that,
with regard to the Gnostic Christ, you are absolutely right. There
was no such 'Avatar' since the pre-Mahabharatu times; but there is one at
the close of every Kali-Yuga—every 4,320,000 years (laugh, O Scientist!),
the nine Avatars shown in the Puranas being only semi, not full,
'Avatars.' And you are absolutely right as to the Egyptian origin of
Christianity, the carnalisation of purely metaphysical dogmas of the
Gnostics, &c. I take your Egyptian aspect in toto, and only add to it
the Aryan and what they would call the Turanian aspects, thus mutually
strengthening our positions. We, too, claim that our interpretations
are 'derived from the facts themselves,' and are not the outcome of our
'own theoretic speculation.' If you only 'flesh the skeleton of
facts,' we do the same: plus, we infuse into that skeleton the soul
and spirit of ancient metaphysics, which is, to say correctly, metaphysics
only now, when the terrible Materialism and physicality of our modern
minds has made it meta, some thing 'beyond' our physical senses. We
say there was a day when what is now meta-physical was as physical and as
objective to the early races as our own bodies are now. Your
Lectures are thus only one more chapter added, and a magnificent,
invaluable contribution to, and a corroboration of, the Secret Doctrine in
the 'Books of Dzyan.'
"One thing may well make you proud, and I mean to point it
out. What we know we have learned it from readymade teachings for
us, from the said Books and the Sanscrit secret Books. We avail
ourselves of the ready-made Wisdom-religion of the far-away past. We
were taught, in short. You, all you know, you have laborously
acquired it by personal research and thought; you are self-initiate in the
Mysteries—of the British Museum; and [have] extracted the essence and the
marrow of Esotericism out of the dead letter of Egyptian papyri, and under
the conceited nose of Egyptologists, who see no deeper than the surface.
I say, Mr. Massey, glory and honour to you. I say it for no
compliment, out of no politeness, but from the bottom of my heart.
It is our good Karma that sent you to us at the right moment, and the
best—when Lucifer was born on earth. Never mind that you
differ from us and our views. What matters it that your conclusions
are opposed to ours, when all your fundamental premisses are identical and
the same; and when, moreover, they (these conclusions) are only with
regard to the aspect, or the version, of the archaic Esoteric Wisdom of
one nation, the Egyptian, now radiating in so-called Christianity in a
thousand broken rays. Let us, then, work in peace, harmony, and
alliance against our common foe—the modern enemy and curse of
humanity—Exoteric Christianity—though we may (in appearance only) be
working on two different lines. Forgive us our mistakes, as we
forgive you your exuberance of science and its strict methods. And,
lastly, forgive me my pigeon-English in favour of my sincerity.— Yours in
truth, H. P. B."
*
*
*
*
*
And yet in one of the "Lectures," that on "The Seven Souls,"
I had written of Theosophy, or "Esoteric Buddhism," as it was then called,
as follows:—
"They are blind guides who seek to set up the past as
superior to the present, because they may have a little more than ordinary
knowledge of some special phase of it! There were no other facts or
faculties in nature for the Hindu Mahatmas or Egyptian Rekhi than there
are for us, although they may have brooded for ages and ages over those of
a supra-normal kind. The faculties with which the Adepts can—as Mr.
Sinnett says—read the mysteries of other worlds, and of other states of
existence, and trace the current of life on our globe, are identical with
those of our clairvoyants and mediums, however much more developed and
disciplined they may be in the narrower grooves of ancient knowledge.
Much of the wisdom of the past depends on its being held secret and
esoteric—on being 'kept dark,' as we say. It is like the corals,
that live while they are covered over and concealed in the waters, but die
on reaching day!
"Moreover, it is a delusion to suppose there is anything in
the experience or wisdom of the past, the ascertained results of which can
only be communicated from beneath the cloak and mask of mystery, by a
teacher who personates the unknown, accompanied by rites and ceremonies
belonging to the pantomime and paraphernalia of the ancient medicine men.
They are the cultivators of the mystery in which they seek to enshroud
themselves, and live the other life as already dead men in this; whereas,
we are seeking to explore and pluck out the heart of the mystery.
Explanation is the soul of science. They will tell you we cannot
have their knowledge without living their life. But we may not all
retire into a solitude to live the the existence of ecstatic dreamers.
Personally, I do not want the knowledge for myself. These treasures
I am in search of I need for others. I want to utilise both tongue
and pen and printer's type; and, if there are secrets of the purer and
profounder life, we cannot afford them to be kept secret; they ask to be
made universally known. I do not want to find out that I am a god in
my inner consciousness. I do not seek the eternal soul of self.
I want the ignorant to know, the benighted to become enlightened, the
abject and degraded to be raised and humanised; and would have all means
to that end proclaimed world-wide, not patented for the individual few,
and kept strictly private from the many. That is only a survival of
priestcraft, under whatsoever name. I cannot join in the new
masquerade and simulation of ancient mysteries manufactured in our time by
Theosophists, Hermeneutists, pseudo-Esoterics, and Occultists of various
orders, howsoever profound their pretensions. The very essence of
all such mysteries as are got up from the refuse leavings of the past is
pretence, imposition, and imposture. The only interest I take in the
ancient mysteries is in ascertaining how they originated, in verifying
their alleged phenomena, in knowing what they meant, on purpose to publish
the knowledge as soon and as widely as possible. Public experimental
research, the printing-press, and a Freethought platform have abolished
the need of mystery. It is no longer necessary for Science to take
the veil, as she was forced to do for security in times past.
Neither was the ancient gnosis kept concealed at first on account of its
profundity, so much as on account of its primitive simplicity. That
significance which the esoteric misinterpreters try to read into it was
not in the nature of it originally. There is a regular manufacture
of the old masters carried on by impostors in Rome. The modern
manufacture of ancient mysteries is just as great an imposition, and
equally sure to be found out. Do not suppose I am saying this, or
waging war, on behalf of the mysteries called Christian, for I look upon
them as the greatest imposition of all. Rome was the manufactory of
old masters 1800 years ago. I am opposed to all man-made mystery,
and all kinds of false belief. The battle of truth and error is not
to be darkly fought now-a-days behind the mask of secrecy. Darkness
gives all its advantage to error; daylight alone is in favour of truth.
Nature is full of mystery; and we are here to make out the mysteries of
Nature and draw them into daylight, not to cultivate and keep veiled the
mysteries made by man in the day of his need or the night of his past.
We want to have done with the mask of mystery and all the devious
devilries of its double-facednees, so that we may look fully and squarely
into the face of Nature for ourselves, whether in the past, present, or
future. Mystery has been called the mother of abominations; but the
abominations themselves are the superstitions, the rites and ceremonies,
the dogmas, doctrines, delusive idealisms, and unjust laws that have been
falsely founded on the ancient mysteries by ignorant literalisation and
esoteric misinterpretation."
*
*
*
*
*
These two citations may yield instruction if thoughtfully
compared.
GERALD MASSEY. |
――――♦――――
SAMPLES OF GERALD MASSEY'S
CORRESPONDENCE.
New
Southgate N.
London Oct.' 4/86.
Dear
Professor Blackie.
The bearer of this note is my
Daughter Christabel who was a child at Craigcrook when we met there
so many years ago. She comes to ask if you, the representative
of all that is left in Edinburgh, will kindly preside at my first
lecture in Edinburgh as you did at my Very first in 1858?
I shall think it an great favour if
you can oblige yours faithfully
Gerald Massey
Professor Blackie. |
――――♦――――
New
Southgate
London N.
March 22/89
Dear
Sir
Williams and Norgate are the Publishers of a
"Book of the Beginnings" and the "Natural Genesis" at 30/- each
retail—60/- for the 4 Vols. But they take off 2d in the
Shilling to all Purchasers over the Counter and 3d to the
Trade—probably to Libraries.
My Lectures are not published. I send you a Set of
six—all that are in print—and if you are as poor as I am you need
not send any more stamps — but see the end of No 6.
I made use of a Letter from you in Natural Genesis V. 1. 180
and refer to your Father's Book V. 2.P.258, and over.
Yours faithfully
Gerald Massey. |
――――♦――――
New Southgate
London N.
May 9/89
Dear
Sir,
The generous and unsolicited notice of my
poems by the Old Man Eloquent appeared (of all places in the World)
in the "Morning Advertiser". The Poems were published in March
1854—early I think, but have no Copy of them—and the review followed
very quickly. In must be in March or April 1854. I am
glad you will look it up. No mention of the fact has ever been
made in any of the lines or Sketches of Landor. You see, I am
not in with any of the Coteries. But, it was a most chivalrous
thing to do, and then to select the "?????" in his superb
Wilfulness—wasn't it like him? Cant something be done to make
our people more familiar with his magnificent writings?
I am dear Sir
Yours faithfully
Gerald Massey
I am sorry not to have a Copy of his Letters but have always been
negligent in such matters. Have you seen my re-written book on
Shakspeare? Kegan Paul & Co. |
――――♦――――
CHRISTABEL MASSEY
Nothing has been made obvious concerning Christabel Massey’s outside
interests. However, she was either a member of, or attached to
the Froebel Institute. Frederich Froebel (1872-1852) was a
German educationalist and a student of the Swiss Johan Pestalozzi
(1746-1827). Both were concerned with the methods of education
of young children in their formative years. They had three
main areas of concern. Play and activity that included toys
for sedentary and creative play, song and dance, observing and
growing plants for awareness of the natural world. These were
considered to develop individualism in the children. The
Froebel Society remains active today, together with the similar and
developed structuring of the Italian Maria Montessori (1870-1952)
teaching methods and schools.
The first indication of Christabel’s interest in and association
with Froebel comes in a Conference Report of the Froebel Society of
Great Britain and Ireland, 1895 where Christabel is Secretary of
that Society:
CONFERENCE REPORT OF THE FROEBEL
SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
CHRISTABEL MASSEY, SECRETARY FROEBEL SOCIETY.
A CONFERENCE was held by
the Frobel Society of Great Britain and Ireland at the
College of Preceptors, Bloomsbury Square, London,
England, on Thursday, September 12 [1895]. The subject
of the conference was: "The Kindergarten Gifts and
Occupations Considered in Themselves, and in Their
Relation to Manual Training and the Arts." This was
arranged...... |
(Kindergarten-Primary Magazine vol. 8, p.69 in the 1896
American edition, otherwise p.157).
The American Froebel Society had a large number of local branches
that arranged their own meetings and activities, and was noted for
having strong religious overtones. Christabel Massey noted this in
her article for The Reformer, 1897. Gerald Massey had Hebrew
translation assistance from Claude Montefiore (1858-1938), liberal
Hebrew scholar, who was Chairman of the Froebel Society at
Christabel’s time, then became President in 1904. Following Massey’s
death in 1907, H[enry] Keatley Moore (1846-1937) wrote a short
epitaph for the Norwood News (Biog..
Ch. 8). Moore was then Mayor of
Croydon Borough Council (1906-1908) and contributed to the Great
Britain and England Froebel Magazine in 1910 and was co-author
of a version of The Autobiography of Frederic Froebel, 1932.
It appears that there was for a time, a tripartite association
between the two Masseys, Moore and The Froebel Society.
FROEBEL and the KINDERGARTEN
by
Christabel Massey
The Reformer, Vol. I, June 1897, 109-11, (Bonner, London.)
There can be little doubt that the Kindergarten, in spite of its
foreign name and origin, is now firmly established in England. When
the Baroness von Marenholtz-Bülow came here in 1854-5, to carry out
her master’s wishes and spread a knowledge of his methods of
education in foreign lands, she could only hear of one Kindergarten
already at work. That one was at Hampstead. Today, there are
hundreds throughout the country. Though these certainly are not all
conducted on strictly Froebellian principles, their existence shows
the demand for them. Indeed, a great many of them are started and
carried on by individuals more or less incompetent, and are not
subject to any form of inspection. Although the Froebel Society
sends out inspectors when applied to, and registers all
Kindergartens examined and reported by them as efficient, and
although the number of trained and certificated Kindergarten
teachers increases each year (the number who went up for the N.F.U.
examinations last year was 557), it is purely optional whether a
principal appoints a trained Kindergarten mistress or whether, urged
perhaps by her own limited means and the fact that her Kindergarten
is a venture, and may be a failure, she secures, for a small salary,
the services of someone who understands little more than the mere
mechanised working out of some of the “Occupations”. Of course, this
kind of Kindergarten gives a wholly false idea of Froebel’s methods
of education, and stands seriously in the way of their wider
adoption. Froebel’s Kindergarten is not a place designed just to
“keep children out of mischief”, as I have more than once found
English mothers regarding those to which they were sending their
children.
Froebel’s great text that true education is achieved by means of
“self-activity”, that it must proceed from within and cannot be
imposed from without, was preached by Pestalozzi when he insisted on
the necessity of developing faculty instead of cramming with
information, and by Rousseau when he emphasised the need of
educating according to nature; but Froebel alone, through years
of patient observation and practice, made out the method and
supplied the means of doing this. He tells us that he set himself as
his life’s aim “to give man to himself”, and he demonstrates that
this can only be done by “exercising the whole human being”. “All of
us,” he says, “without exception feel – each in his own way, and
some more, some less – the consequences of deficient culture and
faulty education at every stage in our various relations of life and
spheres of work, and we have had to contend against these our whole
life long.”
Is not the restlessness and dissatisfaction with their lives, felt
by so many, the result of having so few outlets for the activity
that is in them? The directions that this would take are not perhaps
sufficiently defined by what we call “talents”, that declare
themselves in spite of all hindrances, but the need for the
expression is there, and is a fruitful source of unhappiness.
Beginning with the infant in the cradle, Froebel shows that directly
it wakes to consciousness its education begins, and he appeals
passionately to all mothers to meet and cultivate the earliest signs
of activity – mental and physical. The baby’s muscles are to be
strengthened, its desire for movement directed and satisfied, its
delight in bright colors and pleasing sounds gratified, and a
perception of their likenesses and differences awakened by means of
ball games and the games and songs of his “Mütter-und Kose-lieder”.
Of the book he says:
“I have here laid down
the fundamental ideas of my educational principles.
Whoever has grasped the pivot idea of the book
understands what I am aiming at .... This book is the
starting-point of a natural system of education for the
first years of life; for it teaches the way in which the
germs of human disposition should be nourished and
fostered, if they are to attain to complete and healthy
development.” |
Also the “connectedness of everything in life and nature – the fact
that everything stands related to something else – which Froebel so
strongly accentuates throughout his whole “system” of education, is,
as Mr. Courthope Bowen points out (“Froebel and Education in
Self-activity”), in this book “introduced on almost every occasion,
but is brought out most clearly in what relates to human
occupations”.
And stage by stage Froebel provides , through his wonderful series
of “Gifts” and “Occupations”, both the incentive to the exercise of
a particular “activity” and the channel in which it can be
pleasurably exercised.
In arranging his bricks, in tablet-laying, in bead-threading, mat
weaving, paper cutting, paper folding, etc., the child develops a
real sense of number and form – arithmetic and geometry. A just
appreciation of color and proportion are evolved. He learns to
create his own patterns, and thus a power of designing comes to him.
Some of his materials require careful handling and much precision;
this gives manual dexterity and delicacy of touch.
But the primary object of true education, Froebel holds, is to build
up character, develop faculty. Accumulation of knowledge is
secondary.
A child delights in making a thing himself – in creating. Froebel
would seize on this , would turn it to account, and through his
interest in the thing he is making, through his desire to see it
accomplished, the child shall develop perseverance, concentration,
and the habit of persisting in his work shall become so thoroughly a
part of his nature that it will be stronger later in life than the
sense of irksomeness in anything he has undertaken to do. Also
Froebel would have the thing the child is making – say a mat, for
instance – be for someone else. Let him feel that he is of use to
someone, that his work is helpful to them. This sense of service to
others is made so much of by Madame Schräder, in the
Pestalozzi-Froebel House in Berlin, that the children there take
part in all kinds of household duties. Let the child delight in its
work, for the work’s sake, and and also for the sake of making the
lives of others happier.
Froebel considers the study of Nature, in her world of plants,
animals, insects, one of the most important of all factors in a
child’s education. Let him watch the development of a plant from the
sown seed to the ripened fruit. Let him observe closely, and express
the results of his observations in his own way, in his own phrases,
and by means of his brushwork, drawing, clay-modelling. He is thus
trained to observe exactly and describe faithfully. His knowledge of
the plant, animal, insect, is attained by by his own mental
exertion. He does not learn by heart what someone else has seen, but
watches the results of causes for himself. To see truly and report
accurately become a part of his nature, and tend to make him a
reasoning being. Through Interest in their ways comes affection for
the animals he watches. He cares for their well being, and
recognises his own responsibility towards them, this making cruelty
in any form to them – or to his weaker fellows – an impossibility.
In the Kindergarten game, with its story and song, Froebel appeals
to the child’s imagination, and provides food for it. He gives him a
means of expressing himself in dramatic action, and cultivates
rhythmical and graceful movements. He forms and trains a sense of
music, and the habit of clear enunciation. He lays down the
foundation of a love of musical and dramatic art. And insensibly,
unobtrusively, he bears in on the child that he is one member in a
community. The little autocrat who orders his own games at home, and
always decrees a prominent part to himself, finds at the
Kindergarten that he is only a part of a whole. The other parts are
necessary to him and he to them.
Though it is now possible in most English towns for parents who can
pay the fees to send their children to a Kindergarten, we are a long
way from realising Froebel’s idea of what Kindergarten education
means for the race. And we shall not realise it until free
Kindergarten are general throughout the country. This may sound a
“large order”, but, when compared with our present prison,
workhouse, and asylum system, the cost would look small. And is not
humanity worth cultivating? Is not the neglect of it the cause of
all the problems which baffle reformers on all lines?
I am told that in Hungary nearly every parish has its free
Kindergarten for the children of the poor, as well as a paying
Kindergarten for those who can afford to pay. All are under
Government inspection and are regulated. The teachers have been
trained and certificated at Government training colleges, and after
a certain number of years (during which they receive a salary for
their work) they are entitled to a Government pension.
At present I do not know of a single free Kindergarten in England.
The Froebel Institute at West Kensington was designed to include a
free Kindergarten in one wing, a paying Kindergarten in the other,
and a training college for Kindergarten teachers in the centre. The
paying Kindergarten and the training college have been at work for
some time, but so far the subscriptions have not been sufficient to
open the free Kindergarten for the children of the poor.
In the above brief sketch I have purposely left out all allusion to
what Froebel’s disciples call “the intense religious element in his
pedagogy”. He holds that “in every child there exists a rational and
spiritual germ that may be developed into a right relation to the
three great living factors of all human environment – Man, Nature,
God.” This is amplified and applied continually throughout his
writings, but it appears to me to be the result of his Christianity
and his own individual mysticism, and in his way a necessary part of
his educational method. That the Kindergarten has been identified by
people of all creeds surely shows that it belongs to none. Indeed, a
system of education which is calculated more than any other to
awaken and strengthen a child’s powers of reasoning and induce the
habit of verifying facts for himself, is little likely to end in
making for Christianity or the passive acceptance of any traditional
belief.
Christabel Massey
|
FROM THE PEN OF CHRISTABEL
MASSEY.
――――♦――――
|