of overemphasis in this
statement, but the doctrine itself does not seem strange or sensational
to-day. It might be promulgated in any fashionable church, or in any
ministerial conference, without exciting more than a languid, passing
interest. But in Owen's time it was far otherwise. Such a doctrine
struck at the very roots of current theology and all that organized
Christianity consciously stood for. It denied the doctrine of the
freedom of the will, upon which the elaborate theology of the church
rested. No wonder, then, that it brought much bitter denunciation upon
the heads of its promulgators. A poet of the period, in a poem dedicated
to Owen, aptly expresses the doctrine in somewhat prosaic verse:--

"We are the creatures of external things,
Acting on inward organs, and are made
To think and do whate'er our tutors please.
What folly, then, to punish or reward
For deeds o'er which we never held a curb!
What woeful ignorance, to teach the crime
And then chastise the pupil for his guilt!"[25]

Owen learned other things at New Lanark besides the truth that character
is formed largely by environment. Starting out with no other purpose
than to ameliorate the conditions of his work people, he realized before
many years had passed that he could never do for them the one essential
thing--secure their real liberty. "The people were slaves of my mercy,"
he writes.[26] He saw, though but dimly at first, that no man could be
free who depended upon another for the right to earn his bread, no
matter how good the bread-master might be. The hopelessness of expecting
reform from the manufacturers themselves was painfully forced upon him.
First of all, there was the bitter hostility of those of his class who
had no sympathy with his philanthropic ideas, manifested from the
beginning of his agitation at Manchester. Then there was the incessant
conflict with his own associates, who, though they represented the
noblest and best elements of the manufacturing class, constantly opposed
him and regarded as dangerous and immoral his belief in the inherent
right of every child to the opportunities of sound physical, mental, and
moral culture. Class consciousness had not yet become a recognized term
in sociological discussions, but class consciousness, the instinctive
conformity of thought and action with class interests, was a fact which
confronted Owen at every step.

The Luddite riots of 1810-181