THE HUMANITARIANS AND ROBERT OWEN 745
ft was little wonder that population sprang forward apace, or A-D. 1776
that the truth of his doctrine was so terribly confirmed, when ’
the death-rate of the factory towns, and the visit of the
cholera, demonstrated the potency of the positive checks. In but left the
so far as his teaching induced a sense of hopelessness, and a ee
feeling that no real amelioration was possible, it was very tt
mischievous; it gave the capitalist an excuse for disclaiming
any responsibility for the misery among his operatives, and necessarily
raised a barrier against all attempts at improvement by legis- uti
lative enactment.
This was, as we shall see, the most disastrous result of
the laissez faire attitude taken by the exponents of economic
science; the labourers were ignorant, though not so ignorant
as was alleged, and their favourite projects would probably
have proved injurious to the country; the landlords were
selfish, though there were many plausible excuses for main-
taining the old policy as they tried to do; but it had ceased
to be beneficial, and it was rightly condemned. Unsym-
pathetic criticism that has a basis of truth is much less
harmful than exaggerated approbation; and it was most
unfortunate that the most advanced science of the day
should insist on free play for the capitalist, as a right, while it
provided him with excuses for neglecting his responsibilities.
IV. HuMAN WELFARE.
966. During the twenties, and still more in the thirties English
and forties, a considerable change came over public opinion ns
on industrial questions. Unexampled progress had been
made during the last decade of the eighteenth, and the
beginning of the nineteenth century, but there was no
reason to believe that Englishmen were either better or
happier. There seemed to be no result that was worth
having; and the detached attitude which economic experts
pssumed was not reassuring. They appeared to confine
themselves to the study of ways and means, without en-
deavouring to form a clear and positive conception of the
end to be pursued. The economist of the early part of last
century was ready to explain how the greatest amount of
