Traces Of A Similar Style Of Feeling Are Discernible In The
Letters Of The Polished Correspondents Of Hannah More.
Robert Walpole
gayly intimates himself somewhat shocked at the idea that the nobility
and the vulgar should be equally subject to the restraints of the
Sabbath and the law of God - equally exposed to the sanctions of
endless retribution.
And Young makes his high-born dame inquire,
"Shall pleasures of a short duration chain
A _lady's_ soul in everlasting pain?"
In broad contrast to this, all the modern popular movements in England
are based upon the recognition of the equal value of every human soul.
The Times, the most aristocratic paper in England, publishes letters
from needlewomen and dressmakers' apprentices, and reads grave
lectures to duchesses and countesses on their duties to their poor
sisters. One may fancy what a stir this would have made in the courtly
circles of the reign of George II. Fashionable literature now arrays
itself on the side of the working classes. The current of novel
writing is reversed. Instead of milliners and chambermaids being
bewitched with the adventures of countesses and dukes, we now have
fine lords and ladies hanging enchanted over the history of John the
Carrier, with his little Dot, dropping sympathetic tears into little
Charlie's wash tub, and pursuing the fortunes of a dressmaker's
apprentice, in company with poor Smike, and honest John Brodie and his
little Yorkshire wife. Punch laughs at every body but the work people;
and if, occasionally, he laughs at them, it is rather in a kindly way
than with any air of contempt. Then, Prince Albert visits model
lodging houses, and commands all the ingenuity of the kingdom to
expend itself in completing the ideal of a workman's cottage for the
great World's Fair. Lords deliver lydeum lectures; ladies patronize
ragged schools; committees of duchesses meliorate the condition of
needlewomen. In short, the great ship of the world has tacked, and
stands on another course.
The beginning of this great humanitarian movement in England was
undoubtedly the struggle of Clarkson, Wilberforce, and their
associates, for the overthrow of the slave trade. In that struggle the
religious democratic element was brought to bear for years upon the
mind of Parliament. The negro, most degraded of men, was taken up, and
for years made to agitate British society on the simple ground that he
had a human soul.
Of course the religious obligations of society to _every_ human
soul were involved in the discussion. It educated Parliament, it
educated the community. Parliament became accustomed to hearing the
simple principles of the gospel asserted in its halls as of binding
force. The community were trained in habits of efficient benevolent
action, which they have never lost. The use of tracts, of committees,
of female cooperation, of voluntary association, and all the
appliances of organized reform were discovered and successfully
developed. The triumphant victory then achieved, moreover, became the
pledge of future conquests in every department of reform. Concerning
the movements for the elevation of the masses, Lord Shaftesbury has
kindly furnished me with a few brief memoranda, set down as nearly as
possible in chronological order.
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