Socialism.

With the exception of the papers in the paid interest of the originator of Socialism, and his satellites, the press of tho Mother Country is unanimous in execration of the disgusting conduct of a mad wretch named Owen, who professing "to ameliorate the condition of society" under the seductive name of " Socialism," aims at the root of all religious and moral institutions a blow which is likely to shake them to the very centre, if not to effect their destruction. If Socialism becomes general, every profession of religion must inevitably become extinct; the admitted tenets of Socialism are of that accommodating character that will suit the major part of all communities, who being satisfied in a mere religious profession, would prefer that which not only excuses them from the slightest restraint of moral discipline— that exacts from them not even the appearance of virtue— but openly and boldly avows the propriety of a depravity of deportment, unheard of until Socialism was introduced in British communities, and unpractised even amongst the wildest of aboriginal savages. Socialism is so opposed in its principles to every thing religious, so glaringly opposed to the common usage of decency, so truly at the antipodes of the duties of religion and morality, that it is impossible for it to be tolerated in a country where a Supreme Being is acknowledged or the commonest decorum is practised as necessary to the conducement of general order. Night and day may be expected with equal consistency to merge into each other, as that religion of any sect and Socialism be acknowledged in the same community ; the one profession is so thoroughly at variance with the other, that the ruin of the one can alone form the foundation upon which the superstructure of the other can be successfully reared. The Quarterly Review of December exposes in a masterly manner the abominations of Socialism. We have not space to give the extract entire, but the following "explanation" of Mr. Owen's plan by which he pretends " to ameliorate the condition of society," will not be uninteresting to the reader. We cannot close this article without expressing our opinion that the abominations of the many leaders and professionists of our tolerated churches have given rise to Socialism. The conduct of many of the ministry of the Established Church has been so depraved and disgusting as to drive from their teaching and pastor-ship the tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands who setting up religions professions according to their own ideas of rectitude, became according to the common term "Dissenters," —they became dissenters from the Mother Church— the Established Church. Hence have we Methodists, Baptists, Independents, Armenians, Jumpers, Quakers, Squeakers, and sects out of number. Many of the leaders and professionists of these sects shewing likewise the profession without the possession of religion, have induced men who were capable of thinking, or who ever thought at all, to satisfy their minds that the profession of religion is often put on as a matter of convenience, and too often serves as a cloak to hide the basest conduct, and that to follow the path as tracked out by the various professionists is not necessarily that which leads to future happiness: they abandon it and take up, no doubt with the utmost conscientiousness Socialism, or any other doctrine which offers to them the easiest mode of acquiring a confident assurance of a comfortable hereafter. But Socialism saves its professor from any qualms about a future reckoning —it denies the existence of a God and eternity. One remark more. We have known something of Revolutions ! and never knew one that would have ripened without having, at a particular crisis, an impetus afforded to the turbulent masses by tho establishment of some easy and accommodating profession of religion. The open announcement of Socialism in England at this unsettled period we think is a bad omen, but time will shew. "We have said that we hoped and believed that Owen himself was insane ; but we had, till lately, no idea that there could have been any one else mad enough to adopt his doctrines even as speculative theories : it turns out how ever that—under the general relaxation of all public discipline—under the general contempt for all authority, and the general enmity to all our institutions— under the general arrogance of self-judgment, self-indulgence and self-sufficiency — all of which have been growing up for many years, but particularly since the unfortunate Reform Bill, and, most of all, under the Melbourne Ministry— Robert Owen has made numerous practical proselytes— that he is at the head of a great and spreading sect, calling themselves Socialists, and professing the doctrines just mentioned, which are not only incompatible with our political constituting moral obligations and religious duties, but, we will boldly assert, wholly irreconcilable with any system whatsoever of human society. We are not informed of the full extent to which this miserable delusion may have spread, but we have abundant evidence that it has become so formidable by its numbers, and other elements of power, as well as by its doctrines, as to have of late excited the apprehensions, not merely of Churchmen and Methodists, but even of others who are little likely to be startled at any form of sectarianism short of absolute extravagance."

"The evil in fact has grown to be of such magnitude, and has created so much alarm that the 'Christian Advocate,' in the University of Cambridge, however reluctant to notice such abominations as long as 'they were confined in their circulation, and not calculated to do extensive mischief,' at length felt it to be the duty of his office to endeavour to arrest and expose the progress and tendencies of this profligate system,—a task which he has performed with great utility and effect. It is not our present intention to enter into the argumentative part of the subject, or to show in any detail the wickedness and folly of Socialism, but merely to state some general facts as to the existence, progress, and public professions of the sect, with immediate reference to the extraordinary presentation of Robert Owen to the Queen by the hands of the Prime Minister. But for this purpose it is necessary to impress on our readers minds the general tenets of this sect, of which we have already given a summary, but which we think it right to reproduce in the more authoritative words of Mr Pearson— 'It would not have been justifiable to allude thus publicly to these opinions, unless they had been propagated with a mischievous activity in those districts of the country to which allusion has just been made, and unfortunately with too much success; and unless their promoters were making great efforts to extend their influence more generally through the land. It will be possible only just to allude to the leading features of this infidel creed— which indeed amounts to nothing less than the absolute rejection of Christianity altogether! The first and leading principle of this scheme is that of practical atheism ; and consists in the assertion that "it is irrational to believe the existence of a God, who made and who governs the universe," and maintains that " to worship such a Being is opposed to the rational conviction of every conscientious and intelligent mind." Its votaries are instructed to disbelieve the existence of a future life and a future judgment ; and, consequently, they maintain that man is not responsible for his actions. They are taught that the Bible rests on no better authority than that of the Koran, and the pretensions of Jesus Christ on no better grounds than those of Mahomet. They are instructed that " no one (to use their own language) shall be responsible for his physical, moral, or intellectual organisation," or " for the sensations made on that organization by external circumstances ;" and therefore that man is at liberty to give full scope to the indulgence of the sensual passions ;— and, lastly, with regard to the sacred institution of Marriage, it is treated by them with open ridicule; and they propose to substitute for it a licensed system of adultery, such as even the worst and most corrupt ages or heathen antiquity never knew. " Mr. Pearson most truly states that — 'the promulgation of these opinions in so many districts or the country can be no longer regarded as a matter of indifference, when it is stated that there is at this time a public Institute for the purpose of giving lectures, and of other objects connected with the propagation of these opinions, in the course of erection at Manchester, and that persons were found to guarantee the architect in the sum of £5000 .....
And he gives us the following statement from their own reports of the growth of the Society, if we may call by that name that which is in fact subversive of the very foundations of all society:— ' In the proceedings of the last Congress of this Society, [we beg our readers to bear in mind this Congress, and its title.] which is denominated "THE UNIVERSAL COMMUNITY SOCIETY OF RATIONAL RELIGIONISTS," held at Birmingham in May [last], there is an account of fifty places, comprehending the most populous towns in England and Scotland, at which branches have been formed ....

 The Cornwall Chronicle 1 August 1840,