378 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



writings were regarded in his day with horror, and un- 

 sparingly, if not universally, condemned. He was looked 

 upon as an advocate of lawlessness, as the uprooter of the 

 foundations of society ; and his wife — that remarkable 

 woman, Mary Wollstonecroft — holding, among other peculiar 

 views, that marriage was a pernicious institution, was con- 

 sidered as an emblem of all that was unwomanly. The 

 " Political Justice" appeared in 1793, and its author died in 

 1836 — not so very long ago. But what a change since then 

 has taken place ! What is thought of Godwin's writings 

 now ? No one condemns their socialistic tendencies, or re- 

 gards them with horror, or deems them dangerous. On the 

 contrary, his views and opinions, with others of a far more 

 advanced kind, are generally discussed in books, magazines, 

 pamphlets, newspapers — are advocated and insisted on by 

 many leading thinkers of the present day, and are talked over 

 with more or less intelligence among the masses in their 

 political and social gatherings. The policy of the present 

 day is to adopt, it would seem, the measures framed by the 

 Ministry of progress in France in 1848. Those measures 

 were as follow : To procure labour for all who are out of em- 

 ployment (and that the French Government bound itself to do 

 by a solemn decree) ; to transform the Bank of France into a 

 State bank ; to control by the State all railways, insurance 

 companies, and savings-banks ; to erect public workshops and 

 general stores ; to found agricultural societies or companies 

 on co-operative principles, and such - like. We copy very 

 closely these proposals, but no one regards them now as 

 revolutionary. Those that were adopted by the French in 

 1848 proved in practice unworkable, and were abandoned. 



But the world of to-day, not gaining experience or profiting 

 by the lessons of history, takes them up again, and hopes to be 

 more successful than Lamartine's Ministry. These proposals, 

 and the principles underlying them, are viewed more favour- 

 ably every year, and are steadily advancing, it would appear, 

 in public estimation. Men of note are stirring in the cause : 

 Kingsley, Maurice, and many others, now dead, devoted their 

 talents and influence to its advancement. Euskin, who values 

 himself upon being a communist of the old school, taking his 

 place among those who regard your property as theirs and 

 theirs as your own, comes to the front in the same cause. He 

 is esteemed and honoured as a great teacher, and well sustains 

 his reputation by his admirable writings. William Morris, 

 poet of the " Earthly Paradise " and other works of acknow- 

 ledged merit, follows close upon Ruskin's footsteps. He dis- 

 tributes leaflets among the masses containing the principles 

 he advocates, and the plans he has in view for ameliorating 

 the condition of workmen, the better distribution of property. 



