ALLAN SILVER
417
Allowing for rhetorical changes since Christopher Caudwell wrote this
in the thirties, some such indictment persists.
It
is in large part a
sentimental vision, doubly derived from the young Marx and the
romantic recoil from commercial society, which produced cultural and
theoretical formulations that have deeply influenced our perceptions .
Thus Tannies's condemnation in
Gemeinschaft und Gesellschaft
of
modern society as a hypocritically disguised form of market dealings,
in which "formless conlracts are made continuously. " Thus, in
Passage to India,
Aziz bursts out
to
Fielding at the most intense
moment of their bond,
"If
you are right, there is no point in any
friendship; it all comes down to give and take, or give and return ,
which is disgusting. ... "
The lawyer, however, acts in accordance with an ethic formulated
during the transition to pervasively market and bureaucratic society.
Employment might still retain a household character, shaped by the
language of masters and men; the imagery of "stations" and "duties"
might still suffuse the new forms of labor. Among many others, the
Anglican moralist William Paley articulated the obligations of supe–
rior status in his
Principles of Moral and Political Philosophy,
published in 1785 and republished innumerable times in America,
where it was the principal college text in moral philosophy through
the middle of the century:
I use the term Charity neither in the common sense of bounty to
the poor, nor in Sl. Paul's sense of benevolence to all mankind: but I
apply it ... to signify the
promoting the happiness of our inferi–
ors·.
... Charity, in this sense, I take to be the principal province of
virtue and religion: for whilst worldly prudence will direct our
behavior towards our superiors, and politeriess towards our equals,
there is lillie beside the consideration of duty, or habitual humani–
ty .. . to produce a proper conduct towards those who are beneath us,
and dependent on us.
There are three principal methods of promoting the happiness of
our inferiors:
I.
By the treatment of our domestics and dependents.
2. By professional assistance.
3. By pecuniary bounty.
The lawyer strives
to
apply this ethic. He struggles to treat
Bartleby compassionately, offers
to
find him new employment, and
twice offers money. His voice at first is, like Paley's, that of one
accustomed
to
his station, confident that the expedient and the moral
are compatible. This is less the stance of an early capitalist than of a
professional gentleman who, though active, belongs to a past begin-
