Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

evils of a licentious individualism, is to be | ful parent who seeks to hold his children found in casting ourselves once more blind- in perpetual dependence upon his own. ly into the arms of mere outward author- judgment, and in perpetual vassalage to ity. This were to fall backward to the his own will, instead of training them as period which preceded the Reformation, quickly as possible to think and act for when we should seek rather to make our themselves. So neither the State nor the own period the means of advancing to one Church can have any right to bind the unthat may be superior to both. It is well derstanding and will of their subjects in to see and admit the difficulties of the slavish obedience to mere authority. The present; but we are bound to remember case demands a different relation between also the difficulties of the past, that we the two interests with which it is concernmay look for salvation only in the form of ed. Though the authority should be never a brighter and more glorious future. It so benevolent and wise, and the subject of deserves to be continually borne in mind it never so well satisfied to be ruled by it that mere authority is as little to be trusted in this way, the result would still be slavery for securing the right order of the world, and not freedom. No man can fulfil his as mere liberty. They are the opposite true moral destiny, by a simply blind and poles of freedom, and neither can be true passive obedience to law. His obedience, to its constitution, except as this is made to be complete, must be intelligent and to include both in a perfectly inward and spontaneous. In other words, the law free way. The evils incident to private must enter into him and become incorpojudgment are not to be corrected by re- rated with his life. The remedy, then, for ferring us to an infallible public judgment, subjective license, is not such an exhibition ecclesiastical or political, that may do our simply of outward authority as may superthinking for us in every case, and then sede the necessity of private judgment almake it over to us in a merely outward together. Even an infallible authority in way, without any activity on our own part. this form would not be desirable; for the And just as little of course are the irregu- Divine will itself, if it were made merely larities of private will to be reformed, by to overwhelm the human as a foreign handing us over to the rule of a foreign force, must lead to bondage only, and not public will, as the measure of all right and to freedom. wrong for our conscience. It is not in this The case requires, then, such an underway, that Christianity especially proposes standing of the true nature of freedom, as to make us free. The imagination of a may serve to secure its constitution on both mechanical system of notions and rules sides. Mere theory, indeed, will not be brought near to the mind from abroad, to sufficient, here or elsewhere, to preserve be accepted by it in a blind way, on the life in its right form; but it is, at least, a ground of authority conceived to be di- most important auxiliary to this object. It vine, is wholly aside from the true charac- is much to know clearly, and still more, ter of the gospel. Christianity is indeed steadily to keep in mind, that liberty and a law; but it is at the same time the "law law, the activity of private will and the of liberty," comprehending in itself the restraining force of authority, are alike intrue normal mould of our general human dispensable to a right condition of human life, into which it must be cast in every life; that they are required to enter into case, in order that it may be complete; it always as polar forces, which organically but into which it can be cast, for this pur- complete each other; and that the exaltation pose, only by its own consent and choice. of either interest at the cost of its opposite, In truth, no government can be rational must prove alike fatal to true moral order. and good in the case of men, that does not It is much to know that the idea of freeaim at making them able to govern them- dom can never be reached by simply opselves. The only proper use of govern- posing one of these powers to the other ment is to educate its subjects for free- on either side, as though to insist upon dom, if they have not yet come to be capa- authority were necessarily to wrong libble of its exercise; and if this be not pro- erty; or as though to press the claims of posed, the government becomes to the this last, required a rejection of the no less same extent tyrannical. He is an unfaith-rightful pretensions of the first. That is

at all times a very shallow philosophy, | of law from the cradle to the grave, and though it be unfortunately very common, from the rudeness of savage life onward which can see contradiction only in the through all stages of subsequent social repolarity now mentioned, and is urged ac- finement; but it is only that he may be cordingly to affirm and deny with regard educated for the full use finally of his own to it, in such a way as to exclude the pos- proper personal independence, in being set sibility of any reconciliation between the free from all bondage, whether objective tendencies thus opposed. No authority or subjective, by the clear spontaneous can be moral that does not seek liberty union of his private will with the law to as its end; and no liberty can be free that which it is necessarily bound. is not filled with the sense of authority as the proper contents of its own life.

It lies in the very conception of this vast educational process, including as it does That it may be difficult to bring this not only all stages of the single life from theory of freedom into practice, is readily infancy to old age, but all stages also of admitted; but this forms no proper argu- the general ethical life in the progress of ment against the truth and value of the nations, that the two great compound theory itself. The difficulty lies in the na- forces by which the problem of freedom is ture of the subject to which it belongs. in the course of being solved, should susStill, however, there is no other way intain to each other, in their legitimate acwhich it is possible for the end to be secured that is here in view. Man must be at once independent and bound, self-governed, and yet obedient to authority, in order that he may at all fulfil his own destiny, in distinction from the system of mere nature with which he is surrounded. For this he is to be educated and formed, under the influences which are comprehended in human society for the purpose. He comes not to moral freedom at once, but is required to rise to it by regular development, out of the life of nature in which his existence starts, and in which it continues always to have its root. In our present circumstances, moreover, the process is greatly embarrassed and obstructed by a false law of sin, which is found too plainly seated in our constitution. It becomes accordingly a most complicated problem, to bring our common human life, in this view, into its proper form; a problem, whose solution in fact runs through the history of the world's entire social constitution, from the beginning of time to its end. The family, the State, and the Church, are all comprehended alike in the service of this great design. They surround the human subject with the force

tion, a constantly fluctuating relation; the
pressure of authority being necessarily
greater, and the sense of independence
less, in reverse proportion to the actual
development of the true idea of freedom
in the subject. Here, of course, a wide
field is thrown open for the exercise of
political and ethical science, in determining
the claims of duty and right, as related to
each other in any given stadium of moral-
ity. On this, however, we are not called
now to enter. It may be sufficient to con-
clude with the general rule, drawn from
the whole subject, that no one can be true
ethically to his own position, whether as a
child or as a man, high or low, rich or
poor, in power or out of power, who, in
the use of his liberty, whatever it may be,
is not ruled at the same time by a senti-
ment of reverence for the idea of an objec-
tive authority extended over him in some
form, in the actual social organization to
which he belongs. To be without rever-
ence for authority, is to have always to
the same extent the spirit of a slave.
no other element is it possible to think
what is true, or to act what is right.

J. W. N.

In

FOREIGN IMMIGRATION:

ITS NATURAL AND EXTRAORDINARY CAUSES; ITS CONNECTION WITH THE FAMINE IN IRELAND, AND SCARCITY IN OTHER COUNTRIES.

THE Irish famine of 1846-7 will stand

out upon the page of history as one of the most striking events of modern times. It will be recorded, not merely as a calamity which has swept away a vast multitude of human beings, but equally as a providential crisis in the history of this nation, which revealed more fully than ever before, the accumulated evils of centuries of misgovernment. For it was not created simply by the sudden destruction of a large portion of the nation's subsistence; it was that almost hopeless and depressed social condition of the people, that at once paralyzed the national energy, when this energy was to be directed into new channels as the only alternative against general starvation. There was then no self-reliance; hence no moral courage. There was hope, but it was hope which trembled over a wide-spread, increasing panic, and rested only on the arm of the national treasury. There was submission, but it was that of despair. There was unexampled patience and endurance, but these gave no creative energy to the people; they produced no enlightened forecast. The subjects of that famine were those, and those chiefly, whose minds had been used to the severest laws of servitude, and therefore dependence upon and direction by higher orders of intelligence had become the unchangeable condition of their being. This was their birthright-not the gift of Heaven, but entailed upon them by their masters through successive generations. And when by this signal providence, the possessions of every class became insecure, and the laws of tribute and servitude inoperative, there was to be found no method by which the soil could, at once, be made chargeable with its tenants. They had no power to fulfil legal obligation, while the burden of a higher and moral one, by reason of this inability, now rested with fearful force

upon the master. But he had neither the strength to sustain this, nor the courage to direct the energies of his dependents. There were noble exceptions; yet such was the general condition, and such the two classes of mind. When the news of this their deplorable and melancholy condition had gone forth, the sympathies of the whole human family in every quarter of the globe were excited to a degree unparalleled in the history of the world.

No famine in the history of mankind can be compared to it, unless it be the seven years' famine of Egypt. To this it bears a striking analogy, in the magnitude of the calamity, in the corresponding social condition of those who, in Egypt, were most exposed to suffering, and in the relations of the sufferers to the soil of the country.

The first year in Egypt consumed their lands, their gold and silver. During the second, the unhappy Egyptians sold not only their lands, but themselves, as the price of food. The lands of the priests excepted, Joseph purchased for the crown the whole lands of lower Egypt. After the custom of the East, he allotted it into estates, supplied the seed for its tillage, and demanded one-fifth of the crop as rent, to be paid into the royal treasury. It was held by what is now called the Ryot tenure in Asia. It was by this process that the whole people of the Delta were brought into a state of legal slavery. We find here a kindred land tenure, a social condition not dissimilar, and, if not in the duration, in their intensity, a correspondence in the two calamities.

In the last November issue of this Journal, we discussed the permanently existing causes of foreign immigration. They were, the constantly depressed condition of the poorer classes in Europe, the easy land

tenure of America, and the extent and fertility of this land: two classes of influence-the one foreign, the other domestic. The power of the first was seen in the history of the poor laws of England, and in the unequal burden and injustice of her local taxes; that of the second in the extent and richness of the great central valley of America-the Mississippi, and in the legal protection and encouragement given to settlers upon all the public domain of the country. In the December number we gave a succinct history of the Irish famine, as the leading extraordinary cause of increase in immigration. We detailed the action of Parliament, enumerating and explaining its score of Acts bearing on Ireland, from the incipient measures of the Executive government at the close of 1845 to the passage of the noted Poor Law, in the summer of 1847. We gave, also, an outline of the voluntary charitable measures of Europe and America, and of the methods by which these contributions were applied, following those who became the almoners of the charity, not only of these but of all nations, in their errand of mercy, through the suffering and sterile regions of that hapless country. In this, we had evidence of a foreign cause of immigration, strong enough to bring that entire people to our shores. In our present writing, we consider chiefly the home evidence of that pressure. It is to be found in the increasing and urgent demands upon our almshouse and the voluntary charities of our city. Both the spirit and the manner in which these have been met, as well as the unequalled and sublime example of charity to a famishing nation, is the highest, the most signal evidence which could be given in the history of human affairs, of the diffusive and heavenly nature of that system of truth which enjoins in the most touching manner the love of our neighbor as the love of self. It was not that thousands were falling by pestilence and disease from ordinary causes, but that they were dying from the want of that common bounty, which, like the light and atmosphere of heaven, a Common Parent had caused to abound by spontaneous growth and through the channels of trade over the whole habitable globe. Wherever the news had spread among the nations of Europe, in America,

or in the most distant isles of the sea, from thence, with almost the velocity of electric fire, the currents of sympathy and heaven-born charity were seen flowing forth and meeting in a mighty swelling tide over that land of suffering and death: a silent but irresistible argument, above all logic, for the power and diffusiveness of Christian love. It is an argument that proclaims the greatest truth of that love— a common brotherhood among all nations of men, having the same paternity and hoping the same heaven as a final home.

The accidents of life and the forms of misery, in a great commercial city like New York, are numerous and diversified. In no city probably in the world is there a. demand for more munificent public charities. For here the nations of the world meet; it is the great entrance-door into the western hemisphere for all classes and conditions of men, whether in quest of fortune, of pleasure, or health. A full history of the charities of New York, would extend our article to undue limits. They rank among the most beneficent and well endowed charitable institutions in America. The following are some of the most important.

THE NEW YORK HOSPITAL was chartered by the Earl of Dunmore in 1771. For twenty years it was allowed $4000 annually by the provincial legislature. It received patients in 1791. In 1806 the State granted an annuity of $12,500 out of duties and sales at auction. Its officers are twenty-six governors, four physicians and six surgeons, with one physician and two surgeons resident. The poor are received gratis, and all others at a price agreed on by the visiting committee.

THE BLOOMINGDALE ASYLUM is the insane department of the Hospital. It was opened in 1808, the first in the United States, and has fifty acres of land, and cost $180,000. Its government is under a standing committee of the board of governors, who visit weekly and direct all its affairs.

THE NEW YORK DISPENSARY was established in 1790, to relieve sick and indigent persons unable to procure medical aid. It has eleven attending physicians and an office open daily, and under the charge of an apothecary, for the reception of applicants. Twenty-two thousand patients

Be

were attended in 1841-2 in the city proper, which is divided into three districts. sides this there are the northern and eastern dispensaries, which together attended in the same year upwards of 27,000 patients. Of these 65 per cent. were foreigners. These institutions receive a small amount of legislative aid, and are supported chiefly by subscription and donations.

THE SOCIETY FOR THE RELIEF OF POOR WIDOWS WITH SMALL CHILDREN, organized in 1798, for nearly a half century has been sustained chiefly by the contributions of benevolent females. The female thrown upon her own resources, with helpless children to support by her daily labor, is the object of aid. The city is divided into twentysix districts and a manager appointed to each. This manager inserts in a book the name, residence and circumstances of every person relieved, and the age of her children. No one is assisted until inquiry is made and the character known. Immorality and street begging, when once the party has been cautioned, exclude from the favors of the Society. In 1841, 404 widows and more than 1000 children were aided. ASSOCIATION For the Relief oF RESPECTABLE INDIGENT FEMALES, was founded in 1814, and is directed by a board of twentytwo managers. Any respectable indigent female over 60 years of age, who by her friends pays $50 into the treasury, is entitled to the bounty of the society, and a home in the Asylum during the evening of her days. The home was erected at a cost of $20,000, and has nearly or about 60 in

mates.

ASSISTANCE SOCIETY FOR THE RELIEF AND RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION OF THE SICK POOR, organized in 1813. It is under the direction of as many managers as there are wards in the city, each ward being assigned to a manager. During the year 1841 it relieved more than 1000 families, and its auxiliary, the Dorcas Society, distributed 1450 garments. It expends nearly $4000 per annum.

ORPHAN ASYLUM OF NEW YORK, founded in 1806. It is pleasantly located five miles from the centre of the city, and is under the direction of eleven trustees. Orphans, natives or foreigners of all nations, are received at the age of ten or under, and indentured at thirteen. None are permitted to leave without knowing how to

VOL. I. NO. IV. NEW SERIES.

28

[ocr errors]

read and write. It has a school and library attached.

PROTESTANT HALF ORPHAN ASYLUM, established in 1835; its object is to receive such children as are left destitute by the death of one parent and by the inability of the other to support them. They are trained to habits of order and cleanliness, and receive the rudiments of a good common education. The trustees become the legal guardians of the children, and have power to bind them out at discretion. More than 1000 have been instructed.

Besides these, there are many societies whose organization and labors we cannot specify. THE LADIES' DEPOSITORY; LADIES' SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING INDUSTRY AMONG THE POOR; HOWARD SEWING SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING INDUSTRY; NEW YORK CLOTHING SOCIETY; SOCIETY OF MECHANICS AND TRADESMEN OF NEW YORK; FIRE DEPARTMENT FUNDS; NEW ENGLAND SOCIETY; ST.. NICHOLAS SOCIETY; ST. GEORGE'S SOCIETY; ST. ANDREW'S SOCIETY; ST. DAVID'S SOCIETY; FRENCH BENEVOLENT SOCIETY; GERMAN BENEVOLENT SOCIETY; SOCIETY FOR RELIEF OF WORTHY AND INDIGENT COLORED PERSONS; INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWs, of which there are 70 lodges in New York city, and 12,000 contributing members. The principle of aid in these lodges, unlike that of most other charitable institutions, limits all charity to members of the institution. Their sick and poor are visited, and in time of need each member can honorably claim aid from funds which he has contributed to raise, without the humiliation of private charity. Such are the regulations, that every member, whatever his circumstances, in sickness or death, must receive a fixed and definite amount. The duty of this association does not terminate with life; it is extended to the remains of the departed brother; it requires members to attend, if need be, the last solemn offices of the dead, whether the departed may have deceased amid the kindred of home or among strangers. No person can become a member, except between the ages of 21 and 50 years. The initiation fee is $5 to $30, and the payment annually thereafter $4 to $10. On the decease of every member, $30 are allowed as a funeral benefit; and for the wife of a member, $15. For the year ending June 30th, 1842, the amount of aid extended in

« AnteriorContinuar »