4 It is not difficult to find evidence of the survival of this ancient habit of mind. " I will be master of what is mine own," says Petruchio; "she is my goods, my chattels." Iu More's Utopia we find the singular anomaly of slavery existing side by side with insti tutions which otherwise embody absolute personal, political, and religious freedom, Slaves he would have for all sordid services; and the institution of slavery was made supplementary to the criminal system, for the most part of the slaves were men who had been convicted of crime; and slavery for life was made a substitute for capital punishment. Besides the points mentioned, More's proposals comprise universal com pulsory education, a reduction of the hours of labor to six hours per day, the employ ment of all adults, the most modern principles of sanitary reform, a complete revision of criminal legislation, and absolute religious toleration.
The point of education has been a strong one with theoretical and also with practical communists, as the labors of Owen in that direction clearly show. It is to be observed that communists have seldom relied on their peculiar system alone for .the regeneration of society. Community of goods has indeed been their central idea; but they have almost invariably supported it by other projects of less questionable utility. Compul sory education, free trade, and law reform, the various movements connected with the improvement of the condition of women, have found their earliest advocates among the oretical and practical communists. They denounce the evils of the present state of society; the hopeless poverty of the poor, side by side with the self-regarding luxury of the rich, seems to them to cry aloud to heaven for the creation of a new organization. They proclaim the necessity of sweeping away the institution of private property, and insist that this great revolution, accompanied by universal education, free trade, is per fect administration of justice, and a due limitation of the numbers of the community, would put an end to half the self-made distresses of humanity. Has it never occurred to them that a similarly happy result might be attained if all these subsidiary reforms were carried out, leaving the principles of private property and competition to their old performance in the economic world? If the principles of C. and of private property are to be fairly compared, the comparison must not be between C. as it might be and private property as it is. C. to be successful requires to be accompanied by important reforms, towards which existing society, founded on private property, is gradually find ing its way. The power which society, as at present constituted, has shown of adapt
ing itself to altered circumstances, and of assimilating by slow degrees the more valua ble concomitants of the most revolutionary theories, is strong proof that it does not deserve to bo dealt with in the summary manner advocated by the communists.
Thirty year agq Louis Blanc was the foremost advocate of C., and he took strong grounds against the education of the poor. In his work on the Organization of Labor, published in 1839, he says that in the existing order of society the spread of education among the masses would be dangerous—would, in fact, be impossible. This, if true. would be the strongest possible indictment against the existing order of society. But how have events falsified the assumptions made in the following passage—" We have seen why in the present system the education of the children of the people was impos sible. Many thinking persons consider that it would be dangerous to impart instruction to the lower classes; and this is true. But do they perceive that this danger of educa tion is an overwhelming proof of the absurdity of our social arrangements? Everything is wrong in the social order. Work is not held in esteem. The most useful trades are looked down upon. The workman is, to say the least, an object of compassion, while there are not found crowns enough for a ballet dancer. That is—yes, that is why it is dangerous to educate the people." Hence he concludes, n social revolution ought to be attempted; a new system of society ought to be introduced; the old system of society is, he says, so full of iniquities that it cannot co-exist with a diffusion of education among the people. Even at the time when these words were written there was much to show that they were not true. Since they were written the spread of education has been most general in those countries in which the old social order, founded on private property and competition, is unshaken. Germany, Scotland, and America have educated the peo ple, and they are distinguished among other countries for possessing a peaceful, law abiding, and order-loving population. So far from education being a danger to the institution of private property, nearly every one has been convinced by events that property is much more seriously threatened by ignorance and by the helpless despera tion which ignorance brings; and the old order of society has recognized the necessity of protecting itself by the diffusion of education.