Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 69, No. 424, February 1851Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 69, No. 424, February 1851
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
But in addition to this general cause of delusion and error, which
pervades all states really regulated by the popular voice, there is
another and a still more powerful one which occasions and perpetuates
the most ruinous public delusions in an advanced and complicated
state of society. This arises from the strength and influence of the
classes who become interested in the perpetuating of error because
they profit by it, and the impossibility of getting the great bulk
of men to see, among the numerous causes which are then acting upon
their fortunes, the _real ones_ to which their sufferings are owing.
They know perfectly when they are prosperous, and when unfortunate;
but they do not know, and cannot be brought to see, to what either the
prosperity or adversity is to be ascribed. If the consequences of a
particular line of policy could be brought before them by a _clear and
short_ process of demonstration--if they could see from whence their
suffering in truth comes, and the arrow, known to have been discharged
from the quivers of Free Trade and a metallic currency, could be seen
festering in the breast of every industrious man in the country, one
universal burst of indignation would arise from one end of the kingdom
to the other. This system, so profitable to the moneyed rich, so
ruinous to the industrious poor, would be abolished, amidst shouts of
congratulation from one end of the country to the other, in a month.
But they cannot be brought to see this; and the vast riches which the
continuance of this system is daily bringing to the moneyed classes,
enables them to perpetuate the darkness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account