The Freeman 1972 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

330 THE FREEMAN Juneeconomists and practical businessmenfrom the time of Adam Smiththrough the reign of Queen Victoria,were a money-grabbing lotdevoid of compassion and "socialconcern" (to use the contemporaryjargon). No doubt part of themfit the stereotype perfectly; butthere were many others who wereChristian gentlemen, in the bestsense of that much abused term,and used their wealth and influencefor the good of mankind.A recent writer, Robert Langbaum,9has prefaced his book onthe Victorian Age with an interestingcontrast between the menwho pushed reform in England,including the abolition of slavery,in the decades before and after1800, and their grandchildren whobelonged to the Fabian Society acentury later and l,aid the foundationsfor the British welfare stateas instituted by the Labor governmentof our own time. The formergroup, William .Wilberforce, hisrelatives and friends, were devoutChristians who used their politicalpower - they had an influence outof all proportion to their numbers- to promote worthy causes. Theyalso invested large sums of theirown money in private charity.This "power elite," derisivelynickna~ed the "Clapham Sect" orthe "Saints" by their political enemies,believed, said Langbaum, "inpiety, reform of church and state,moral action and laissez-faire economics."Their posterity a hundredyears later (the famous"Bloomsbury Circle," includingJohn M,aynard Keynes) "disbelievedin religion and moral action,and did believe in governmentregulation or ownership ofindustry. . . ." Thus, too briefly,is described "the century-long migrationof English liberal intellectualsfrom Clapham to Bloomsbury,"from a Christian freeenterprise philosophy to a secularsocialism.It should be remembered that tospeak of the Bloomsbury Circle asthe children of the Clapham Sectis no figure of speech; they cameof the same distinguished f.amiliesand were .in fact the grandchildrenand great-grandchildren ofthe Evangelicals who had beenWesley's disciples and who hadsuccessfully promoted so many reforms.Yet today, a multitude ofAmericans consider socialism asthe moral and ethical alternativeand laissez-faire capitalism as utterlyunchristian. Obviously, someoneis confused, then or now; orthe question is irrelevant.Protectionism AbandonedWhat makes the problem sofascinating is that the next Britishattempt to promote the abolitionof slavery, beyond continuingantislave-trade naval patrol, was