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Kingsley has pointed to great possible results in the way of spreading population over the country, and locating manufactures also in less crowded districts. But this requires a general associative system of industry, otherwise the convenience of sale will draw all unavoidably to centres.

The failure of many attempts is no proof that communities might not be formed, on the basis of mutual cooperation, capable of conducting jointly almost the whole process of social life. The error has been in the attempt to construct the whole at once, or waiting for it to start at once into existence. It is the nature of a living body to grow from a germ. The empires of the world have been, without exception, the developments of petty principalities. Even the

United States of America could no more have formed themselves at once, out of unconnected elements, into what they now are, than a million of molehills could jump at once into a mountain. And in their very existence and growth, they afford a proof that the associative faculty is stronger in the civilized state, and in the Saxon race, than it has proved in the earlier history of the world, and in other portions of mankind. But even with this advantage, a permanent association must grow from a germ, and extend itself by degrees, both in numbers, and in the amount of the interests which each member entrusts to it. The great difficulty consists in the need of patience in waiting for results. The sanguine promoters of a new scheme promise benefits which do not come fairly within the scope of their original terms, and every one is eager to profit at once by combinations which can only bring in their fruit in the course of years. The consequence is, that many benefit societies, many of what might be useful companies, fall to the ground without ever making fair trial of the system of cooperation. It is only men of some education, and prudence, and mutual confidence, who can successfully act together. And it is not always enough even for men to see that it is their own interest to do right. There are too many in whom passion overbears interest, and sacrifices permanent benefit to its own temporary ends. Otherwise there would not be so many who are not possessed of that most valuable element of success in life-a good character.

But, with all these difficulties in its way, the system of association gains ground. Not only are theories on the subject embraced by thousands, who wait or strive for impossible conditions in order to realize them, but practical and efficient unions are formed by limited bodies of men, congregated under favourable circumstances. The Legislature itself has seen the necessity of meeting this tendency of society, by giving fresh facilities of legal associations, although much remains to be done in the way

of improving the law of partnership, before the way is open to some of the most hopeful experiments. The preamble and first clause of the Act of last session, will give some notion of its objects. A fresh Act is proposed for the limitation of liabilities in certain cases of partnership, which would give additional facilities:

'An Act to legalize the Formation of Industrial and Provident Societies, 15 & 16 Vict. c. 31. 30th June, 1852.

'WHEREAS, by an Act passed in the Thirteenth Year of the Reign of Her present Majesty, intituled An Act to consolidate and amend the Laws relating to Friendly Societies, it was enacted, that a Society might be established under the Provisions of the said Act for any of the Objects therein mentioned; that was to say, (amongst other Objects,)" for the Relief, Maintenance, and Endowment of the Members, their Husbands, Wives, Children, and Kindred;" "and for the frugal Investment of the Savings of the Members, for better enabling them to purchase Food, Firing, Clothes, or other Necessaries, or the Tools or Implements of their Trade or Calling, or to provide for the Education of their Children or Kindred, provided (amongst other things) that the Shares in any such Investment should not be transferable:" And whereas, various Associations of Working Men have been formed for the mutual Relief, Maintenance, Education, and Endowment of the Members, their Husbands, Wives, Children or Kindred, and for procuring to them Food, Lodging, Clothing, and other Necessaries, by exercising or carrying on in common their respective Trades or Handicrafts; and it is expedient to extend the Provisions of the said recited Act to such Associations, and otherwise to regulate the same: Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, as follows:

'I. It shall be lawful for any Number of Persons to establish a Society under the Provisions of this and the said recited Act, for the Purpose of raising by voluntary Subscriptions of the Members thereof a Fund for attaining any Purpose or Object for the Time being, authorized by the Laws in force with respect to Friendly Societies, or by this Act, by carrying on or exercising in common any Labour, Trade, or Handicraft, or several Labours, Trades, or Handicrafts, except the working of Mines, Minerals, or Quarries beyond the Limits of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and also except the Business of Banking, whether in the said United Kingdom or elsewhere: and this Act shall apply to all Societies already established for any of the Purposes herein mentioned, so soon as they shall conform to the Provisions hereof.'

At the end of M. St. André's volume is a list of associations and associative stores in above 100 different places, which is enough to show that the principle is really at work, and that this legislation is not for mere imaginary cases. At present, however, the persons who are thus associated are generally but beginners in the system, and have much to learn about its true principles and possible development. Such associations may be formed for the mere purpose of gaining some immediate advantage, without any view to more extensive cooperation, and

equal dealing with others as well as with their own members. M. St. André, whatever may be his enthusiasm, or his over-estimate of what can be done with men as they are, appears to have the merit of a sincere desire to draw associations together in a spirit of unselfish cooperation, and at the same time to place them in a healthy connexion with the external body of society, and, where it is possible, with the Church, so as to direct their efforts into safe and effectual channels. There are too many

among the leaders of such movements who consider religion and existing governments as mere obstacles in the way of a reconstruction of society according to their own views. But it is satisfactory to see that there are at least some who are aware of the advantage that every real social reform must derive from the protection of the civil power, and the infusion of moral life through Church membership and religious education. The following letter is sufficiently intelligible to the uninitiated, to give some little notion of M. St. André's position and views :'

To the Members, Friends, and Supporters of Working Men's Associations, and of Co-operative Stores.

"No man having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."-ST. LUKE, ix. 62. 'Mr.

'Having resigned, in the beginning of March last, the management of the Central Co-operative Agency, at 76, Charlotte-street, Fitzroy-square, which had been entrusted to me by Mr. Edward Vansittart Neale, the founder of that establishment, and the dissolution of partnership, as regards myself in the late firm, Lechevalier, Woodin, Jones and Co., now carried on under the title Woodin, Jones and Co., having been gazetted on the 13th of April last, I always considered it my duty to address you and the friends of cooperation and industrial reform in England, on that occasion, as I did last year, when business was begun.

'Nevertheless, I have, up to this day, delayed fulfilling such intention, as my address to you could answer no useful purpose, until I was ready to show what further step I meant to take for the advancement of co-operation and industrial reform.

1 It is scarcely to our immediate purpose to give any account of his earlier life, or of his plan for applying the principle of association to the solution of the difficulties of the abolition of slavery in French Guiana, by means of a Company, which was accepted by the Government of Louis Philippe in January, 1848, and fell to the ground in consequence of the Revolution. (See his Letter to the Extraordinary Delegates of the British West India Colonies.) He has passed through the St. Simonian and Fourierist schools, and attained to more practical views by long experience and observation, of which some evidence may be found in the commencement of his Report on the British Colonies, published some time since by the French Government It is remarkable, that in one way or other, the St. Simonians in general have returned to the Church; and it is perhaps an additional proof of a catholic spirit that one, not the least able and devoted of them, should have found a home in the Church of England, and a satisfactory field of labour under the shadow of the British Constitution, and with the most earnest purpose of spreading amongst classes now but too much disposed to disaffection, a rational attachment to the British Government.

'It is gratifying to me to think that none of you might have ever plausibly entertained the idea that, leaving for any motive any especial cooperative establishment, I had left altogether the field of my permanent exertions since 1829, at a time when, and in a country where the facts of the present and the prospects of the future are so satisfactory, and the method adopted to carry out the realization of industrial reform according to the great principle of co-operative association, so conformable to my views, and so well adapted to the little amount of practical wisdom experience has taught me.

In the prospectus of the Central Co-operative Agency, the following four principles have been set forth :—

1st. That trade, exchange, distribution of goods, are trusts to be administered alike in the mutual interest of producers and consumers, not to be conducted as matters of speculation.

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"2d. That any adulteration, fraud, and falsehood of any kind, in price, quantity, or quality, is a misdemeanour, and should be dealt with as such by public opinion, and by each individual privately, in the absence of law. 3d. That the most legitimate and efficient means which the wealthier classes have for aiding the working men, and both the wealthier classes and the working men for aiding the poor out of employment, is to secure their consumption to co-operative establishments, by giving their orders through a regular channel, acting under an especial responsibility for the

purpose.

4th. That an equitable and freely-accepted arbitration between producers and consumers, and the regulation of supply and demand according to the co-operative principle, should be substituted for the arbitrary and selfish power of private speculation."

"These principles are, in my opinion, a clear and complete summing up of anything wise and practicable to be gathered up from that part of the efforts of science, since the beginning of this nineteenth century, relating especially to substituting co-operative and emulative association to conflicting competition, in industrial and commercial transactions.

In a public address, which was delivered at the meeting of proprietors, depositors, and customers of the London Co-operative Stores, held in the board-room of the establishment, 76, Charlotte-st., Fitzroy-sq., on the 30th of May, 1851, and whereof the report has been printed and widely circulated, I made also the following statement:

"As to the views of the Central Co-operative Agency, they were not, properly speaking, founding a co-operative store, but an institution intended to realize certain objects, among which he might single out as one of no ordinary importance, the education of an improved body of distributors, the first step towards a successful realization of the idea of a superior system of distribution.

"Now, could they imagine that this class was not as interesting as any other class of working men? The trustees and partners felt, if not more, certainly the same, interest for this class as they did for any other class of working men; and, consequently, it was their intention to admit such persons to participate in some be..efits which they did not enjoy under the old system of trade. Though by the constitution of the new Central Agency they could not be made associates any more than the customers, yet an Association of Shopmen could be formed, and a Conference instituted to train them in the principles upon which the central agency intended to carry on business.

"The establishment would thus, by the stimulus of immediate selfinterest, endeavour to show these young men that it was better to work on the new principle than on the old one.'

"

'I have always considered the making of active efforts to carry out the numbers 3 and 4 among the four principles above quoted, and to organize an association of shopmen, and a conference particularly devoted to the same class of people, as being my especial province in the institution, called the Central Co-operative Agency.

'Without any view of underrating the great good which has already been done, and is still doing through the instrumentality of that establishment, I may say that the points just alluded to have been almost entirely omitted in the zealous and successful exertions made by the Trustees and Partners of the Co-operative Agency to promote its development.

'Had this not been the unavoidable result of the capital of the establishment having other more immediate employment, and of certain external obstacles, the principal responsibility of any fault should fall upon me, as I acknowledge that attending to those points was my especial duty in the management of the Co-operative Agency.

'In fact, experience having shown that the two first items of our common views of commercial reform were carried out as satisfactorily as possible, in the present arrangements of the Co-operative Agency, whilst the other points remained forcibly unattended to, I felt myself bound, at the cost of some hardship, to try to do, in some other way, but to the profit of the general co-operative movement, what could not be elsewhere effected.

'Such have been, as far as public interest is concerned, the motives of my withdrawal.

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Now, it was no slight difficulty for me to find and to prepare the new framework of practical action, whereby I could promote the objects I have more particularly in view, in benefitting, at the same time, the existing Cooperative Stores and Associations of working men, whatever may be the defects of their present constitution.

'After mature consideration, leaving for another especial effort what is to be done regarding the Provident Institution, and Educational Conference for shopmen, I have resolved to take up and to work out by means of a new institution, to be called the Board of Supply and Demand, the third point set forth in the programme of industrial reform which I have framed, and which I will endeavour, by all proper means, to carry into execution. This third point is as follows:

"That the most legitimate and efficient means which the wealthier classes have for aiding the working men, and both working men and the wealthier classes for aiding the poor out of employment, is to secure their consumption to co-operative establishments, by giving their orders through a regular channel, acting under an especial responsibility for the purpose.' I enclose the first draft of the above-named establishment, (Board of Supply and Demand,) and will be thankful in receiving your friendly communications and suggestions.

'I beg to subscribe myself, yours obediently,

JULES LECHEVALIER ST. ANDRE, 'Late Manager of the Central Co-operative Agency, at 76, Charlotte-street. 'London, 6, Charles-street, Soho, July 24th, 1852.'

It will be seen from this letter, that he has been connected with the cooperative movement in which Mr. F. D. Maurice and Mr. Vansittart Neale have taken a conspicuous part; and that he has been led to separate from them by some differences of opinion with respect to the management of their institution, although still anxious to promote their general ends.

The main object of his book is to explain to them the princi

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