1823.) 
wished to form a distinct idea of the 
nature of the scene of his observations. 
We left our carriage (says the author,) 
in the old town of Lanark ; and, with a 
young peasant for our guide, proceeded 
to New Lanark. The distance>was not 
more than a quarter of a league; but ap- 
peared to be much more considerable, 
from the immense disparity, as to civiliza- 
tion, and the expansion of its various 
powers, operating in conjunction with a 
notion of elegance and refinement, be- 
tween the place we had left, and Mr. 
Owen’s system in its actual establishment. 
In one, the sentiment of mutual accommo- 
dation displays itself; a preference being 
given to its tendencies, to all the means 
that, when fully assisted and improved, 
point to it as a certain end. iIn‘the other, 
feelings of comparative indifference are 
excited both towards the means and the 
end. The neatness, the regularity of the 
buildings, the moral and social state of the 
inhabitants, whatever is useful or con- 
ducing to support them in ease and com- 
fort,—whatever is expedient to escape the 
wild inconveniencies of poverty, to pre- 
serve and secure from oppression, all the 
charities of life, to promote the general 
welfare,—these data we find distinctly de- 
lineated, as outlines of the social compact, 
.at New Lanark, 
In our descent to the place, we pass 
over a green swarth, then traverse a little 
wood or grove, and along a rather rapid 
declivity, enter a solitary valley, encircled 
with hills, forming a picturesque and ro- 
mantic situation, with the river Clyde, fa- 
mous for its cascades, and the beautiful 
scenery of its banks, running at the bot- 
tom. The first object that presents itself, 
at some distance from the village, is a 
building of a very agreeable exterior, both 
vast and commodious, surrounded with 
tufted woods and verdant pastures, and 
remarkable for its elegant simplicity. On 
reaching this, we discover, at the end ofa 
long alley, planted with trees, in a hollow 
recess, and on the banks of the river, the 
buildings ocenpied by the colony, and 
which compose the village called New 
Lanark. Here we perceive Mr. Owen 
in the midst of his workmen and children, 
and hasten to salute bim, without waiting 
for a formal introduction. 
Mr. Owen, at the age of fifty-one, hardly 
seems to exceed that of forty, His aspect, 
when examined, is sufficient to authorise 
the persuasion, that it resembles his cha- 
racter, exhibiting a correct copy of mild- 
ness,—of a well-informed, active, sagaci- 
ous, and enterprising, mind,—of an ardent 
wish to be useful to the laborious classes, 
in whatever may be found subservient to 
their health, morals, and convenience, 
It is now about twenty-four years since 
he undertook the management of these 
Al. Jullien’s Visit to Lanark. 
195 
establishments; for twelve years preceding 
they had formed a large’ manufactory, 
wherein, as in other like places, the poor 
were neglected, and suffered to do their 
daily labour in savage stupidity. In the 
first ten or twelve years, however, a com- 
plete metamorphosis was effected, and the 
regenerated colony now enjoys all the be- ' 
nefits which the wisdom and experience of 
ages could have prepared for it. How 
striking the contrast between its former 
ignorance, disorder, immorality, and mi- 
sery; and the moral, intellectual, and 
physical, improvement, that the efforts 
of time and attention have been capable 
of producing. ‘The truth of this remark is 
now generally admitted. The advantages 
derived from his superintendance have 
been long observed; the world is so far 
acquainted with them, that they form to- 
pics of conversation; and many have ac- 
quiesced in the propriety of his rules, 
however little they may have adhered to 
their observance. 
What first pleaded the cause of nature 
and of sense,— what acted as no mean ad- 
vocate upon a mind unbiassed by private 
interest, already half persuaded of the du- 
ties which belong to superiors,—was read- 
ing the adventures of Robinson Crusoe, 
contemplating what may be calied - the 
mannal and practical education of neces- 
sity, remote trom the institutions of men, 
which are often maleficent, What gave a. 
further stamp and character to his inge- 
nious motives was meeting with some pas- 
sages in Rousseau’s ‘‘ Emile,” together 
with the example of a beneficent oldman 
in the ‘* Adele and Theodore” of Madame 
de Genlis. He then began to form a sort 
of moral and philosophical code of his 
own, to plan a system of which he would 
himself undertake the execution, since he 
could find no one disposed to approve of 
his theory. Twenty years had matured 
his scheme, before he published any thing 
on the subject. 
The principles and object of it, as he ex- 
plained them to me, were to banish every 
motive that could awaken or foster vicious 
propensities ; to extirpate the fears and 
hopes that act within the narrow sphere of 
egotism ; to render useless the rewards and 
labours that excite ambition, pride, envy, 
cupidity; to find the reward of virtue in 
itself, so that good conduct may become a 
habit; to create a love of labour, order, 
and discretion; these were, the ends that 
our Scotch philanthropist had projected, 
and which a long, multiplied, magnified, 
course of experiments has enabled him to 
accomplish, i 
After taking notes of the theoretical 
part of Mr, Owen’s scheme, I made it my 
business to survey the fair living picture of 
the persons and localities, as they succes- 
sively presented themselyes to view, 
The 
