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Or The Causes Of The Decay Of Our National Morality, And On Some Modern Schemes For Its Renovation.
OR THE CAUSES OF THE DECAY OF OUR NATIONAL MORALITY , AND ON SOME MODERN SCHEMES FOR ITS RENOVATION .
WHILE all confess that education is now more widel y diffused than formerly , and many esteem education the only sure guarantee for the practice of virtue , all agree that a far greater degree of crime prevails in this country than existed in former times , or than exists at present among foreign nations . The truth is so glaring , that even thc most violent demagogue attempts not to conceal the vices of his worshippers ;
he only attempts to palliate them , by throwing the blame of bringing them into operation upon the government of the country . It appears to us that in this attempt he is unsuccessful . The habits of a people are not rapidly changed by the acts of an administration ; and if they were , still every government has professed that its stability and prosperity depend on the virtuous and orderly habits of the people . Surely
it cannot be supposed that our rulers have always endeavoured to corrupt us ; or , that wishing to improve our social condition , they have nevertheless blundered invariably on such expedients as have defeated their purpose . No—the causes of the decline and also of the growth of morality in nations , are to be found in a deeper knowledge of man than it is the fashion for the superficial ( or , as they prefer to be called ,
practical ) statists of our day to attain . We feel our oivn utter incompetency to this great task , but we have hope that some hints in this brief paper may assist the progress of minds more equal to its undertaking . It generally happens , when a subject is little understood , that it gives rise to a thousand positive opinions ; such is the case with our present
topic . Every one imagines he has discovered the cause for the decline of our morality . Of many and conflicting hypotheses we shall touch on a few only , and on these more or less slightly , according as they have obtained fewer or greater number of suffrages , previous to developing our own views .
It is very common to argue , that immorality is the inevitable result oi the increase of population , and of the consequent congregation of numbers in great towns and manufactories , or of poverty . To each of these causes something may truly be attributed ; but they are insufficient , either singly or conjointly , to explain the present condition of the people . For old London , with its narrow ways , and accumulated stories of building , was more densely peopled than our modern city , and that over an extent of surface quite as efficient for all vicious purposes as at present . Poverty must ever be the fruitful parent of many crimes . Independently
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Or The Causes Of The Decay Of Our National Morality, And On Some Modern Schemes For Its Renovation.
OR THE CAUSES OF THE DECAY OF OUR NATIONAL MORALITY , AND ON SOME MODERN SCHEMES FOR ITS RENOVATION .
WHILE all confess that education is now more widel y diffused than formerly , and many esteem education the only sure guarantee for the practice of virtue , all agree that a far greater degree of crime prevails in this country than existed in former times , or than exists at present among foreign nations . The truth is so glaring , that even thc most violent demagogue attempts not to conceal the vices of his worshippers ;
he only attempts to palliate them , by throwing the blame of bringing them into operation upon the government of the country . It appears to us that in this attempt he is unsuccessful . The habits of a people are not rapidly changed by the acts of an administration ; and if they were , still every government has professed that its stability and prosperity depend on the virtuous and orderly habits of the people . Surely
it cannot be supposed that our rulers have always endeavoured to corrupt us ; or , that wishing to improve our social condition , they have nevertheless blundered invariably on such expedients as have defeated their purpose . No—the causes of the decline and also of the growth of morality in nations , are to be found in a deeper knowledge of man than it is the fashion for the superficial ( or , as they prefer to be called ,
practical ) statists of our day to attain . We feel our oivn utter incompetency to this great task , but we have hope that some hints in this brief paper may assist the progress of minds more equal to its undertaking . It generally happens , when a subject is little understood , that it gives rise to a thousand positive opinions ; such is the case with our present
topic . Every one imagines he has discovered the cause for the decline of our morality . Of many and conflicting hypotheses we shall touch on a few only , and on these more or less slightly , according as they have obtained fewer or greater number of suffrages , previous to developing our own views .
It is very common to argue , that immorality is the inevitable result oi the increase of population , and of the consequent congregation of numbers in great towns and manufactories , or of poverty . To each of these causes something may truly be attributed ; but they are insufficient , either singly or conjointly , to explain the present condition of the people . For old London , with its narrow ways , and accumulated stories of building , was more densely peopled than our modern city , and that over an extent of surface quite as efficient for all vicious purposes as at present . Poverty must ever be the fruitful parent of many crimes . Independently