Fors Clavigera (Volume 5 of 8): Letters to the workmen and labourers of Great BritainRuskin, John
General
Fors Clavigera (Volume 5 of 8): Letters to the workmen and labourers of Great Britain
Ruskin, John
Aesthetics; Conduct of life; Great Britain -- Social conditions -- 19th century; Social problems; Working class -- Great Britain
These are the views which are gaining ground among the poor; and it is
entirely vain to endeavour to repress them by equivocations. They are
founded on eternal laws; and although their recognition will long be
refused, and their promulgation, resisted as it will be, partly by
force, partly by falsehood, can only take place through incalculable
confusion and misery, recognized they must be eventually; and with
these three ultimate results:—that the usurer’s trade will be abolished
utterly;—that the employer will be paid justly for his superintendence
of labour, but not for his capital; and the landlord paid for his
superintendence of the cultivation of land, when he is able to direct
it wisely;—that both he, and the employer of mechanical labour, will be
recognized as beloved masters, if they deserve love, and as noble
guides when they are capable of giving discreet guidance; but neither
will be permitted to establish themselves any more as senseless
conduits, through which the strength and riches of their native land
are to be poured into the cup of the fornication of its Babylonian
‘City of the Plain.’
So ends my article, and enough said for 1875, I think. And I wish you a
merry Christmas, my masters; and honest ways of winning your meat and
pudding.
NOTES AND CORRESPONDENCE.
I am busy, and tired, this month; so shall keep my making up of
accounts till January. The gist of them is simply that we have got
£8000 worth of Consols; and we had a balance of £501 7s. at the bank,
which balance I have taken, and advanced another hundred of my own,
making £600, to buy the Sheffield property with: this advance I shall
repay myself as the interest comes in, or farther subscription; and
then use such additional sums for the filling of the museum, and
building a small curator’s house on the ground. But I shall not touch
any of the funded sum; and hope soon to see it raised to £10,000. I
have no word yet from our lawyer about our constitution. The Sheffield
property, like the funded, stands in the names of the Trustees.
I have accepted, out of our forty subscribers, some eight or nine for
Companions, very gratefully. Others wish well to the cause, but dislike
the required expression of creed and purpose. I use no persuasion in
the matter, wishing to have complete harmony of feeling among the
active members of the Society.
E. L.’s courteous, but firm, reply to Mrs. Green’s letter reaches me
too late for examination. In justice to both my correspondents, and to
my readers, I must defer its insertion, in such abstract as may seem
desirable, until next month.
I. Letter from a clergyman, now an accepted Companion. The extract
contained in it makes me wonder if it has never occurred to the Rev.
Dr. Mullens that there should be immediately formed a Madagascar
Missionary Society, for the instruction of the natives of England:—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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