The Liberator

REFORM.

New Society,

William I. Garrison.

As the subject of Association is now so frequently pressed on public attention, and is in itself so important to all classes of society, perhaps you will not object to the following article being laid before the readers of the Liberator, its design being to help to a right judgment of the spirit and principles on which those proceed who are now taking the lead in the formation of Associations in this country and in England.

There is at the present time nothing more clear to the casual mind respecting new society, than that a mode of association different from what has hitherto, generally, obtained, will be one of its leading features. It is also clear to such minds, that the mode, whatever it may be, will be, altogether, determined by the spirit and principles from which the builders-up of new society shall act. Beyond these points there seems considerable obscurity and conflict of opinion, the consequence of which is the arrestation of reform, and the continuance of the old things pretty nearly in an unchanged position. Now this delay, though, no doubt, wise ends are to be answered by it, cannot be protracted indefinitely. Some agreement must be come to. We must, unmistakably, see the new light by which our path is to be guided, or the heart-impulse now felt will have been given to little purpose. Where then is the guiding truth, what the spirit which is to conduct us to the desired haven?

It can hardly be that the great Truth which is to characterize the coming revolution has not been uttered in words, present with us as its Reality ever is. It can hardly be that that has not been said, and even done, somewhere, which has to be said and done everywhere, and by every body, ere the revolution can be consummated. We seem to be at the eleventh hour of Reform, every eye is expectant, every pulse quivers, every heart throbs for the realization of a promise made in secret to each, and declared from the house-tops by all. Has the revelation been made to us not to be fulfilled? Have we been incited to discontent at time-honored things, and those not to be exchanged for better and more glorious ones? Have we been taught to hope and stimulated to act, and has it not been decreed that there shall follow a certainty of Fruition?

Men's hearts and minds have been long deeply stirred, there has long been heard note of preparation and din of war, and has it all been barren of good? It is not credible. Not so does Infinite Wisdom execute its designs. Not a heart is warmed but that the possessor of it may act out some part that has been assigned to him—not a mouth is opened but a word of prophecy has to be uttered, and acts of love, those are the exponents of the spirit of the age, of the spirit in the Reformation—they are the Reformation. The Reformation is an existent thing, idealized, verbalized, factitious; but such only to those whose lot has been cast to share in it; to all else it is a chimera, shapeless, dark, phantasmal.

But the inquiry what are the principles, and what the great act of the revolution, remains unanswered, at least as a speciality. We will endeavor to make the answer.

So far, then, as the revolution has progressed, in the United States and in Great Britain, we venture to affirm the principles and act to be self-denying. The revolution is not, as yet, social, political, or religious, but one of personality, a reformation of individual habitudes. All else is words, words, words. Social reform is talked, political reform is talked, religious reform is talked, bodily reform only is acted by the masses of the people.

Now in this first act we have the key to all that is to follow. Every succeeding step will be made, almost at once, by millions, who shall, together, quit the old, and plant themselves firmly on new ground. There is, there can be no revolution where the masses do not feel and act. Father Mathew and the six men of Baltimore are the only leaders yet apparent—the temperance reform the only reform yet achieved by the people.

There are always two classes of persons called reformers, two sets of principles, and a spirit, lying or true, from which all reforms and delusions date. The deceptive reformer lets alone his personalities, and seeks extra-personal changes. He drinks, eats, and clothes himself as other men do; he seeks wealth, marries, and roots himself in society pretty much in the same style as the rest of the world, the difference consisting, mainly, in a separate identity put forth, from time to time, in books, speeches, and other idealogies. His principles, all, are no more deeply derived than from self; he has discovered, elaborated, and perfected them, and to him, therefore, all the honor and the glory are due. He seeks proselytes, that with them he may obtain wealth and power, and so be enabled, as he says, to 'reform society,' whereas the truth is, that, as he is, himself, unreformed, they could only be used for purposes of indulgence. The spirit in him is evidently, not true, nor wise, nor good in the largest sense, for if religiously true, his ascriptions of merit would be to God, if wise he would begin by reforming himself, and if good he would neither seek wealth nor power, for in these are temptations to all manner of evil.

On the other hand, the first act of the real reformer is one of personal purity. He abstains from polluting his body, God's true and living temple, more from instinctive reverence towards the invisible Creator, than out of regard to any experiences; and, however wide may be the prospect of change opened to him, he never forgets that the first principle of reform is self-denial, nor that the life of all Being is God. His principles, he knows, are an implantation in his Being, and that only as this is unfolded can he live the life of a true man. He desires to be a full, a perfect man, and knowing whence he has proceeded, reposes, trustfully, on Spirit, being less careful respecting outward things than intrinsic treasure. He distrusts exceedingly, that favorite doctrine of the self-wise man which assumes wealth and power to be instruments not dangerous to their possessors, and would avoid the responsibility which attaches to them until fully assured that they are accorded to him as means for human elevation.

The Society reformer, or, as better known, the social reformer, is a numerous class in England, and strenuous efforts are now being made by J. A. Collins and others to organise them in the United States. Their leader is the well-known Robert Owen, from whose pen has proceeded a formula of opinion, which is accepted by his followers under the name of 'the doctrine of circumstances.' Although no body of persons has, perhaps, caused more alarm to the old religionists and legitimists than this, nothing has been done by it which can merit serious regard as an act. Ideally, they have proved themselves most formidable opponents to credalists of all denominations, but their principles remain little more than an abstraction, for notwithstanding the Society has among its members one of the wealthiest capitalists in England, and Robert Owen is a great favorite with many of the aristocracy and middle class, about £30,000 is all they have been able to raise during the four years for which they have had possession of the estate at Tytherley, whilst twenty times that sum, namely, £600,000, is required to form a complete community. It is scarcely necessary to add, that of the many thousands who have embraced the views of this philanthropist, all but a very inconsiderable number remain component parts of old society.

The Spirit reformers require attention not so much on account of their number as from other considerations. One of their modern founders has been an Englishman, named Greaves, who was for several years the friend and associate of Pestalozzi. James Pierpont Greaves has lately deceased, and some account of his ideas and sentiments has been given in recent numbers of the Dial, by his pupil and friend, Charles Lane, who is now a resident of New England