at the abuses of the Romish Church, while the latter contemplated also social amelioration. The noblesse and the rich could readily coalesce with Luther's principles; but they would have been slow to sustain those of the two earlier reformers, who contemplated measures for the temporal benefit of the masses. He shows the bearing of the wars of the peasants, which followed the teachings of Huss and the doctrines of the Anabaptists, on social questions.

This work has great value as a history, and for the details it furnishes upon subjects yet very far from being exhausted; its leanings are, however, plainly to some form of socialism. This proclivity does not often mar the course of the history, and is only made clear in the fourth volume, in which he reviews the plans of various schools of socialists. He insists that, whatever may be their errors and their want of agreement among themselves, they have rendered the cause of humanity essential services. He avers that they only have rightly framed the problem of social amendment, which, alone, is a long step towards a correct solution. He evidently believes the solution will come from the side of the socialists, and that the strongest guarantee of the success of social reform is the prevalence of modified views upon the subject.*

The great problem of adjusting the relations of human labour to human well-being has been met in France, with more or less zeal, by all schools of politicians, philosophers, and writers: all are not equally enlightened, nor equally liberal, but all admit the urgency of the inquiry, and all contribute some aid to the solution. The political economists have shown great activity of the pen, perceiving that their craft was in danger from any direct inquiry into what would most promote human welfare. They have yielded to the pressure of the time whatever they can surrender without destruction of their theory of the wealth of nations.

It might be as profitable as agreeable to enter into an examination of the large number of works published in France, within the last twenty years, on the subject of labour, the liberty of labour, the organization of labour, the right of labour, the laws of labour; but the

* We are absolutely compelled to refrain from extending these notices by the space they are consuming, thus leaving unnoticed the productions of many writers of great power and research. As the discussion proceeds, it is instructive to watch the advance which the later writers are making under the advantages and the light derived from their predecessors. But we must forego the profit as well as the pleasure of such an examination.

greatness of the task and the narrowness of our limits forbid. The phrases thus employed and made the subjects of elaborate and profound inquiry, are ridiculed in England, and even in this country, as implying impossibilities, or nonsense, or socialism. In France, humanity is placed, in importance, above human institutions and laws; or it is acknowledged as their object. In Great Britain and in the United States, it is assumed that our institutions and laws are perfect, or so nearly perfect that any consideration of mere humanity, or beneficence, which interferes with them, or calls for their amendment, is regarded as the puling conception of a visionary. Such a man, in the estimation of men of the world, is unacquainted with the stern and inevitable realities of life; he is a labourer at that which is impracticable, and is rather to be pitied for his ignorance than encouraged in his investigations. Such, in the main, is the language of the Protestant ministry and the religious press, who very promptly extinguish all such inquiries as belonging to the domain of socialism or communism, for which the horror exceeds that which is felt for mere infidelity. For, certainly, German infidelity is tolerated in many libraries for the sake of its learning, where works of socialism would not be admitted for the sake of humanity.

*We refer to the following, as well deserving the attention of the inquirer:The Liberty of Labour; an exposition of the conditions under which human powers are exerted with the most effect. By Charles Dunoyer. 3 vols. 8vo., Paris, 1845.

Essay upon the Organization of Labour, and the Future of the Working Classes. By Theo. Morin. 1 vol. 8vo., Paris, 1845.

The Laws of Labour. By Gustavus Dupuynode. 1 vol. 8vo., Paris, 1845. The Right of Labour. A complete collection of the speeches made at the National Assembly on that subject. 1 vol. 8vo., Paris, 1848.

Essay upon the Relations of Labour to Capital. By Ch. Dupont White. 1 vol. 8vo., Paris, 1846.

SOCIALISM.

THIS word, in its commonly misapplied signification, may denote sufficiently the subject of the following remarks. If we have not already brought forward the writings of French socialists, it is not because we have overlooked them, nor because we regard them as devoid of interest and instruction. We belong not to that school which regards with a seemingly pious scorn all that passes under the name of socialism, we are afraid to say even to the socialist, "Stand by, for I am holier than thou." We look upon the whole socialist movement as one of the greatest events of this age. We believe no man can understand the progress of humanity or its present tendencies who does not make himself, to some extent, acquainted with the teachings of socialism, and does not watch its movements. It is regarded by many, and especially by Protestant divines, as a war upon Christianity. This betrays ignorance, not only of socialism, but of human nature, and a sad misconception of Christianity itself. It is true, that a large mass of the socialists of France are not Christians, and that many of them openly express their disbelief; and it is just as true that many among us are not Christians who never scoff; and many more live in open and direct violation of Christ's injunctions of love and mercy, who make the loudest professions of Christianity. It is true enough that socialists are in error in many material or vital points, but they are earnestly seeking truth according to their opportunities and light. We hesitate not to aver that, in other material points, the Protestant communities of Great Britain and the United States, under the fuller light of the gospel, hold to errors as fatal in their final issue.

Let us inquire a little into the origin and nature of this socialist movement. Every one knows the condition of the human family under Grecian and Roman domination. It may be expressed, for our present purpose, in two words, SLAVERY and WAR. Christianity greatly ameliorated the operation of these evils of humanity. But this amelioration was incomplete when Christianity was swallowed up by a combination of priestcraft and paganism, and a long night of superstition, with slavery of body and mind, fell upon all Christendom. There was no relief for the masses, until the Reformation came and placed the Bible in the hands of the laity. The Reformation itself ended in mere Protestantism, in which the chief advantage left to the

people was the possession of the sacred volume. Darkness still brooded over the people of Europe, for part remained steeped in the errors of the Papacy, and part were stuffed with the dry husks of Protestant theology. But the light of the gospel continued to brighten, until something of its power was seen in Great Britain, and a more dazzling display was exhibited in the United States. However far short these exemplifications came of the requirements of the gospel, they attracted the attention of the world. Those who were suffering every manner of evil, under institutions framed by priestly cunning, unholy ambition, and political misrule, when the benign precepts of the Saviour began by degrees to reach them, when they began to realize, from the examples of Great Britain and the United States, that men might think for themselves and estimate their own rights, perceived very soon that they were unjustly treated, that they were not admitted to their proper position in the scale of humanity, and that they were not permitted to make their own industry as available for their own benefit and comfort as justice required. Resentment against their supposed oppressors was not slow in following this view of their condition; priests, kings, rulers, and institutions became alike the objects of a hatred which became indiscriminate in proportion as it became violent. As the Papal priesthood assumed to have all Christianity in their hands, religion itself came in for a share of its dislike; for these people cried out, What has religion done for us? They had bitter experience that the dignitaries of the church were as greedy of money, and of power, as the functionaries of civil authority. . It is not very surprising that they began a vigorous opposition against all that, in their view, was inimical to their interests. They could not acquiesce in doctrines, moral, political, or religious under colour of which humanity suffered such inflictions: they resisted the religion, the law, and the philosophy which gave birth to such doctrines and practices. They entered the field of theory and speculation, to find if by investigation they could deduce laws for their protection and guidance more in consonance with humanity. Being wholly unembarrassed with prejudices in favour of antiquity, or indeed in favour of any existing institution, they entered with sharp appetites upon the discussion of all abuses of power, religious and political; they held a sharp and unswerving knife as they proceeded to the dissection of Papal and civil institutions, against which they held a grudge so serious; they subjected modern society, with its accumulations of errors, to a scrutiny far more severe and searching than it had ever encountered. A great

diversity of conclusions resulted from this spirit of inquiry-this active and unsparing investigation; and this army of social philosophers became separated into many camps. They quarrelled with those around them, and especially with those above them; but they were also far from agreeing among themselves. They received, finally, the name of socialists, a term intended to convey a characteristic of the whole. Properly explained, it is sufficiently significant:-they are a body of men who deem themselves injured; they point to the causes of their sufferings in the church and state, and demand a remedy; they insist that society is bound to amend their social position. They insist that no institutions can be wise or just which encourage or permit oppression-which fail of giving fair scope to industry and knowledge-which do not, as far as practicable, secure to labour its proper reward, and to knowledge and enterprise an open field and due defence. It is true that those upon whom these doctrines have brought the epithet of socialists, have run into wild errors and mistaken theories, and many of them, perhaps, into absurd and crazy conceptions. But the mistakes of some, or all, by no means set aside or nullify the irrefutable truths they have announced. It is sheer nonsense to attempt to crush these truths by the cry of socialism; it is worse than nonsense not to know and appreciate truths which have already spread far and wide beyond the ranks of the socialists. It is a pitiable ignorance which chooses to remain blind to light which is guiding great multitudes as they pass before you. It is a stubborn and wicked conservatism which is rooted to one spot in this world of evil, refusing to bélieve in any thing better, scouting humanity as a dream, not conceding to Christianity the triumphs which are assured by its own promises, offering to Christ this present world as now exhibited, or none,-not perceiving that the social, political, and commercial institutions of the present day, founded upon and sustained by a selfishness heretofore unequalled, are the great barriers to the progress of Christianity. The works of the socialists have exposed this hideous skeleton of selfishness-they have pursued it with unfaltering hatred; and this constitutes our main obligation to them. Our language to them should not be that of scorn or denunciation; it should be that of sympathy in their desire of truth, and compassion for their sufferings and their errors. They do desire to learn to them every question is open: they have burst away from the chains of superstition, false morals, and false social science. Who is able or prepared to instruct them? Will not Christians step forward and show