MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE. 345 



Our author visits New Harmony, and we think we cannot extract a better 

 specimen of his work, than the account of Mr. Owen's somewhat co-operative 

 community established there. We have ourselves seen an ineffectual attempt 

 of the same kind on a small scale, under the especial auspices and protection of 

 Mr. Owen himself, the disastrous result of which was so similar to the one here 

 detailed, as to leave no doubt of the fidelity of the narrative. 



" Whilst at Harmony, I collected some information relative to the failure of 

 the community, and I shall here give a slight sketch of the result of my enqui - 

 ries. I must observe, that so many, and such conflicting statements, respecting 

 public measures, I believe never were before made by a body of persons dwelling 

 within limits so confined as those of Harmony. Some of the ci-devant " co- 

 operatives" call Robert Owen a fool, while others brand him with still more 

 opprobrious epithets : and I never could get two of them to agree as to the pri- 

 mary causes of the failure of that community. 



" The community was composed of a heterogenous mass, collected together 

 by public advertisement, which may be divided into three classes. The first 

 class was composed of a number of well educated persons, who occupied their 

 time in eating and drinking dressing and promenading attending balls, and 

 improving the habits of society ; and they may be termed the aristocracy of this 

 Utopian republic. The second class was composed of practical co-operators, 

 who were well inclined to work, but who had no share, or voice, in the manage- 

 ment of affairs. The third and last class, was a body of theoretical philosophers 

 Stoics, Platonics, Pythagoreans, Epicureans, Peripatetics, and Cynics, who 

 amused themselves in striking out plans exposing the errors of those in opera- 

 tion caricaturing, and turning the whole proceedings into ridicule. 



" The second class, disliking the species of co-operation afforded them by the 

 first class, naturally became dissatisfied with their inactivity ; and the third class 

 laughed at them both. Matters were in this state for some time, until Mr. 

 Owen found the funds were completely exhausted. He then stated that the 

 community should divide ; and that he would furnish land, and all necessary 

 materials, for operations, to such of them as wished to form a community apart 

 from the original establishment. This intimation was enough. The first class, 

 with few exceptions, retired, followed by part of both the others, and all exclaim- 

 ing against Mr. Owen's conduct. A person named Taylor, who had entered 

 into a distillery speculation with one of Mr. Owen's sons, seized this oppor- 

 tunity to get the controul of part of the property. Mr. Owen became embar- 

 rassed. Harmony was on the point of being sold by the sheriff discord pre- 

 vailed, and co-operation ceased." 



The author then proceeds to state what he had heard from others respecting 

 Mr. Owen's motives, and impugning his honesty, which we omit ; but we can 

 ourselves vouch for the truth of the following. That great philosopher possesses 

 an original method of silencing his adversaries. 



" He (Mr. Owen), would evade or refuse, answering direct questions, which 

 naturally made men so accustomed to independence as the Americans are, in- 

 dignant. The usual answer he gave to any presuming disciple who ventured to 

 request an explanation, was that, ' his young friend' was in a total state of 

 ignorance, and that he should, therefore, attend the lectures more constantly for 

 the future." 



We cannot refrain from commenting on the flippancy with which our author 

 states, that Mr. Owen has " simply put forward the notions of Rousseau, Vol- 

 taire, Condorcet, Plato, Sir Thomas Moore, &c. in other language." 



Surely, the man who could class together Voltaire and Plato, not to mention 

 the extreme dissimilarity of the rest, must be as ignorant of those philosophers 

 as Mr. Owen himself. 



THE DOUBLE TRIAL. A NOVEL. 3 VOLS. 8vo. LONDON : SMITH & Co. 1832. 



THIS work, under the pretence of being a novel, is, in reality, a series of dis- 

 cussions upon Political Economy, Mr. Malthus's theory, and various other 

 M. M. No. 81. A A 



