M.LAVELYE'S THEORY OF ENGLANDS PROSPERITY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 2255, 17 October 1889, Page 2

M.LAVELYE'S THEORY OF ENGLANDS PROSPERITY

« Slnaath: day. ot M do Tocqneville 'here hai boon n~> statesman more obiorvaat, ond no wrltor more Impartial, ro.*.ril:)!* ni'io al oh.raoter nnd luotuailons than M. de L.veleyp, of Brussels. It Is -urn. yaars ago now but the teattm »ny he r .heh g*va _s to t'to true oause of the strength »nd prosperity of i_ .>gU**d ;s worth rep»*i.tlng lv thi. y -ar whon France (a celebrating the ceut:n. ry of its revolution. •■ Whono9 onmeß It," says M, Laveleye. " that with the Uws And Ins ita; ions very Inape faot tht* E igll.h are & very greit n»t:oo 1 Thla Is due I think, to rhe pro. valenoe of religious principle. In England l tm aurrou ■dai on all ..dee by ohurohen ahup-tB, boriool-, hospitals, asylums, almshoas's, publio parks, and countless ln4tltu;lor,s for tho well-being of tbe people. PvtlMoal economy aid mVe'lall-tlo sociology tell ua that mankind ia v ged by. one motive only, that of ac Mnte.pßt", But when I obaerve olosely toe life of the people of England, I see that the rule is— notwithstanding ma* y selfish exoaptiona — the rule is for each man to do good to hii neighbor. From <he -aorkiug man to the peer of the re.lrn, I fea almost every one d voting Borne time dai y to the fulfilment of duties connected with socioties or institutions of whioh they are members. This ia to be seen to suoh an extern m no other oountry of the world, except m the Unitod States of Am~-rio'>. where the e me reiigiou. and uuie!6nh principles are infl .ential. See all over hlnglaud, that marvellous inatitut on, the Sunday Sohools of every denomination, with more than five millions of children, and more than half a million nf teaohers. In faot, thur. ara about 600 000 pars mi who, willingly and freely, give up several houra every Sunday for tho purpose of instructing poor ohlldren. In not this alone a proof of the preva'enoe of religious sttnt/ment In KogUnd . It Is the p-ev ailing feeling that we h-tvo to consider. Nearly all public tsots are Inspired by the spirit of the Gospel of Christ, even among those who do nor, profess to believ. Id Divine Inspiration. In England, and still more tn Scotland, there prevails so religious an atmosphere, and all the national •ser.tim^ut'! are lv thla respect ao different from wr>at vh.y aro on the Continent that one night almost Imagine one-elf transported to anjtbt-r planet. I say, then to all reform suohof your laws as need reform, bat bt* o.refal to maintain ond to strengthen the religious principles of the people, frr they are the oause of yonr pre-eminence."