GE to Mrs. Nassau John Senior, London, [May 1874]
Title
GE to Mrs. Nassau John Senior, London, [May 1874]
Title
GE to Mrs. Nassau John Senior, London, [May 1874]
Sender
George Eliot
Recipient
Mrs. Nassau John Senior
Date(s)
- 1874-05
Place
London
Letter Content
GE to Mrs. Nassau John Senior, London, [May 1874]
MS: Parrish Collection, Princeton. Hitherto unpublished.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
Dear Friend
I think your report 85 is admirable for fullness, clearness, and wisdom of suggestion. But I can understand how the pointing out of evils under a system may be regarded by officials as an "attack," and that as the old professor considered Sir Humphrey Davy "a verra troublesome fellow" in chemistry, so a clear-eyed ardent practical woman may be found very troublesome as an inspector.
I confess that the Report deepens my sad conviction that the whole Poor Law System is an evil to be got rid of as soon as possible rather than developed. And on this ground it would seem to me an unspeakable advantage if you could evoke voluntary work quite independently of the Government organization.
But though I saw a great deal of the Poor in my early youth,
I have been for so many years aloof from all practical experience in relation to them, that I am conscious of my incompetence to judge how far it would be wise to use existing arrangements rather than to try and supersede them. I have a dreadfully distinct vision of that typical pauper girl whom you describe -- "stubborn, apathetic, capable of violence." 86 And I am not sure that she would be a better mother or sister of the race than one who would be usually ranked as more vicious but who would have a more human sort of passion in her.
I enter so heartily into what you say about the superiority of that home education which calls out the emotions in connection with all the common needs of life, and creates that interest in means and results which is the chief part of cleverness. That is a pregnant little paragraph in which you mention "the germs of all valuable qualities."
Do what one will with a pauper system it remains a huge system of vitiation, introducing the principle of communistic provision instead of provision through individual, personal responsibility and activity. But what evil can be got rid of on a sudden? Only it makes a difference when the evil is recognized as an evil, because then the action is adjusted to gradual disappearance instead of contemplated permanence. And you have very firmly and clearly expressed your recognition of the whole Poor Law System as an unhappy heritage which we have to hinder as far as possible from descending to future generations. Perhaps that is part of your "attack"?
I am chatting with you to please myself -- not with the notion of saying anything that you don't already know better than I. My chat is just an outflow of the strong interest your Report has excited in me.
M. E. L.
MS: Parrish Collection, Princeton. Hitherto unpublished.
The Priory, | 21. North Bank, | Regents Park.
Dear Friend
I think your report 85 is admirable for fullness, clearness, and wisdom of suggestion. But I can understand how the pointing out of evils under a system may be regarded by officials as an "attack," and that as the old professor considered Sir Humphrey Davy "a verra troublesome fellow" in chemistry, so a clear-eyed ardent practical woman may be found very troublesome as an inspector.
I confess that the Report deepens my sad conviction that the whole Poor Law System is an evil to be got rid of as soon as possible rather than developed. And on this ground it would seem to me an unspeakable advantage if you could evoke voluntary work quite independently of the Government organization.
But though I saw a great deal of the Poor in my early youth,
I have been for so many years aloof from all practical experience in relation to them, that I am conscious of my incompetence to judge how far it would be wise to use existing arrangements rather than to try and supersede them. I have a dreadfully distinct vision of that typical pauper girl whom you describe -- "stubborn, apathetic, capable of violence." 86 And I am not sure that she would be a better mother or sister of the race than one who would be usually ranked as more vicious but who would have a more human sort of passion in her.
I enter so heartily into what you say about the superiority of that home education which calls out the emotions in connection with all the common needs of life, and creates that interest in means and results which is the chief part of cleverness. That is a pregnant little paragraph in which you mention "the germs of all valuable qualities."
Do what one will with a pauper system it remains a huge system of vitiation, introducing the principle of communistic provision instead of provision through individual, personal responsibility and activity. But what evil can be got rid of on a sudden? Only it makes a difference when the evil is recognized as an evil, because then the action is adjusted to gradual disappearance instead of contemplated permanence. And you have very firmly and clearly expressed your recognition of the whole Poor Law System as an unhappy heritage which we have to hinder as far as possible from descending to future generations. Perhaps that is part of your "attack"?
I am chatting with you to please myself -- not with the notion of saying anything that you don't already know better than I. My chat is just an outflow of the strong interest your Report has excited in me.
M. E. L.
Signature
M. E. L.
Citation
George Eliot, GE to Mrs. Nassau John Senior, London, [May 1874], Complete George Eliot Letters(2026), George Eliot Archive, edited by Beverley Park Rilett. https://GeorgeEliotArchive.org, Accessed September 7, 2026. https://georgeeliotarchive.org/items/show/93560