88 



SOCIAL LIGHTS AND SHADOWS. 



Bi/ the Eev. W. WILLEY. November 30th, 1886. 



Mr. Willey said that the attention given to social questions — 

 to the conditions of social happiness, is a conspicuoiis and salu- 

 tary feature of our time. The association formed by Lord 

 Brougham for the promotion of social science helped to quicken 

 interest in social subjects. It disseminated the idea that there 

 is such a thing as a Science of Society, and that society wUl 

 never reach the ideal of well-being until that science is fairly 

 grasped and obeyed. We are not content to live in the random, 

 happy-go-lucky way of our grandfathers. We are less than ever 

 disposed to accept the doctrine of Alexander Pope : — 



Spite of pride, in erring reason's spite, 

 One truth is clear: — Whatevee is, is Eight. 



Least of all are we inclined to rest satisfied with the prospect of 

 post-mortem bUss. To prepare for the futiu-e life by neglecting the 

 present is preparing for manhood by neglecting youth. Our age 

 has acquired a vivid perception of this truth — hence the greater 

 interest attached to all social questions, and the greater avidity 

 with which eveiy kind of social amehoration is sought for. At 

 the outset of any consideration of the social problem, we are 

 confronted by the theory that in our own country, at any rate, 

 there are a great many more people than there ought to be. The 

 Eev. Thomas Malthus gave his name to a doctrine of terror in 

 regard to over-population, which men like Mill have, with more 

 or less emphasis, confirmed. Euskin thinks that England would 

 be far better worth living in if the population were some two- 

 thirds less than it is. "Leave this hypocritical prating about 

 the masses," says Emerson. " The masses are rude, lame, un- 

 made, pernicious in their demands and influence. The worst of 

 charity is that the lives you are asked to preserve are not worth 

 preseiwing. Masses ! The calamity is the masses. I do not 

 wish any mass at all, but honest men only, lovely, sweet, ac- 

 complished women only, and no shovel-handed, narrow-brained, 

 gin- drinking million at all. Away with this hurrah of masses ! 

 If Government knew how, I should like to see it check, not 

 multiply, the population." But Government does not know how, 

 and neither Malthus, MUl, nor Emerson gives it a morsel of 

 practical instruction upon the point. The only real means of 

 checking the population is by massacre or cannibalism. If such 

 plans are impracticable, the only alternative is to square our 

 accounts with things as they are. The milhons exist ; the thirty 

 millions of this little scrap of geography called England; the 

 four or five millions of our bloated metropohs, the seventy and 

 odd thousands of Burnley. It is of no use to say that they are 



