wrung wealth from their slaves;
he confines children in a tainted atmosphere, physical and moral, from
morning till night, and a celebrated minister (Pitt) boasts of this
very evil;[156] he treats his fellow-creatures as machines,[157] and
wealth, though accumulated, is not diffused; the great capitalists,
'like pikes in a fishpond,' devour the weaker fish;[158] competition
is not directed to providing the best goods, but the cheapest;[159]
every man oppresses his neighbour; the landlord racks his tenant, the
farmer grinds the labourer; all the little centres of permanent life
are broken up; not one man in a thousand is buried with his fathers,
and the natural ties and domestic affections are prematurely
dissolved.[160]

Here, too, is to be found the source of the infidel opinions which
call for suppression. London is a hotbed of corruption;[161] a centre
of wealth; and yet, in spite of poor-laws, a place where wretches are
dying of starvation, and which could collect a mob capable of
producing the most appalling catastrophes. In such a place, men become
unbelievers like savages, because removed from all humanising
influences, and booksellers can carry on a trade in blasphemy.
Infidelity is bred in 'the filth and corruption of large towns and
manufacturing districts.'[162] The disappearance of clerical influence
has led to 'a mass of ignorance, vice, and wretchedness which no
generous heart can contemplate without grief.'[163] It is not
surprising that, in Southey's opinion, it is doubtful whether the bulk
of the people has gained or lost in the last thousand years.[164]
Macaulay takes all this as mere sentimentalism and preference of a
picturesque outside to solid comfort. But whatever Southey's errors of
fact, they show at least a deeper insight than his opponent into some
social evils. His proposed remedies explain his diagnosis of the evil.
In the first place, it is not surprising, though it surprised
Macaulay, that he had many sympathies with the socialist, Robert Owen.
He saw Owen in 1816,[165] and was much impressed by his views. In the
_Colloquies_,[166] Owen is called the 'happiest, most beneficent, and
most practical of all enthusiasts'; an account is given of one of the
earliest co-operative schemes,[167] and Southey believes in the
possibility of the plan. He makes, however, one significant remark.
Owen, he thinks, could not succeed without enlisting in his support
some sectarian zeal. As Owen happened to o