Because it ostensibly recommended infanticide as a way of ensuring
that the poor had no more than two (or three at most) children
the work was pounced on by the Chartists and reproduced twice in 1839,
both times with additional parts supposedly "privately printed" by Marcus.
These later additions are not in the same style as the original work, nor are
they as subtle. Rather, they directly advocate infanticide, illustrate
a method, and suggest a ceremonial cemetery for the burial of surplus
infants. The net result of printing or reprinting the Marcus pamphlet
was to give the Anti-Poor-Law movement great ammunition in its moral
crusade -- but the whole thing seems too easy somehow, and I wonder
whether it wasn't an inside job by the movement rather than the
sincere ruminations of some Benthamite gone too far.
My question is, has anyone speculated convincingly on the authorship
of the "Marcus" pamphlet, or on the additional material credited to
Marcus by the Chartist reprints (besides Gertrude Himmelfarb)?
Thanks in advance for your help!!
++ Jamie Bronstein++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
++ History Department "Vote yourself a farm."+
++ Stanford University -George Henry Evans++
++ disraeli@leland.stanford.edu+++++++++++++++++++++