I. Robert

Robert, an English social reformer, born in Newtown, North Wales, March 14, 1771, died there, Nov. 19, 1858. The son of poor parents, when 14 years old he procured a situation in London, and at the age of 18 became partner in a cotton mill. He married in 1709 the daughter of David Dale, a Glasgow manufacturer, having previously, with other partners, bought from Mr. Dale the village and cotton mills of New Lanark, Scotland. ~ Here he introduced a system of reform which proved for a time highly successful. In 1812 he published "New Views of Society, or Essays upon the Formation of Human Character," and subsequently a "Book of the New Moral World," and various other works, in which he maintained a theory of modified communism, insisting on an absolute equality in all rights and duties, and the abolition of all superiority, including alike that of capital and that of birth. By the aid of his immense fortune he was enabled to distribute a large number of tracts developing his peculiar views, and soon had everywhere numerous and enthusiastic followers, but was attacked on all sides, and particularly by the religious press.

He set out in 1823, after the death of his patron, the duke of Kent, for the United States, where he determined to found at his own cost a communist society; and with this view he bought from Rapp the settlement of New Harmony in Indiana, on the banks of the Wabash, embracing 20,000 acres of land and dwellings for 1,000 persons. The scheme, however, proved an utter failure, and in 1827 he returned to Great Britain, where experiments of a similar nature attended by a similar result were made at Orbiston in Lanarkshire, and at Tytherley in Hampshire. He succeeded no better in establishing a "labor exchange" in London, in connection with a bazaar and bank. In 1828 he went to Mexico on the invitation of the government to carry out his experiment there, but effected nothing. He however continued for the rest of his life to advocate his views both as a writer and public speaker, revisiting America several times. His ideas are clearly developed in his "Lectures on a New State of Society," "Essays on the Formation of Human Character," and "Outline of the Rational System," and especially in his principal work, "The Book of the New Moral World," in which he came forward as the founder of a system of religion and society according to reason.

During his last years ho was a believer in spiritualism, through which he became convinced of the immortality of the soul.

II. Robert Dale

Robert Dale, an American author, eldest son of the preceding, born in Glasgow, Scotland, Nov. 7, 1801. His early years were spent at New Lanark, under the care of a private tutor. In 1818 he was sent to Fellcnberg's school at Hofwyl, Switzerland, where he remained upward of three years. He accompanied his father to the United States in November, 1823, lived for some time at New Harmony, and in the autumn of 1828 commenced at New York, in partnership with Miss Frances Wright, a weekly paper called "The Free Enquirer," which was continued for three years. He then removed to New Harmony, where he was three times (1835-'8) elected a member of the Indiana legislature. In 1843 and 1845 he was elected to congress as a democrat, serving till 1847. He took a leading part in settling the N. W. boundary dispute. In 1845 he introduced the bill organizing the Smithsonian institution, and in 1846 became one of its regents and chairman of its building committee. In 1850 he was elected a member of the convention which amended the constitution of Indiana, and became chairman of its revision committee. In that convention, and afterward in the legislature, he introduced measures securing to the women of Indiana independent rights of property.

In 1853 he was appointed charge d'affaires at Naples, and in 1855 minister, remaining there till 1858. In the spring of 1860 he had a discussion on divorce with Horace Greeley, which appeared originally in the " Tribune," and afterward in a pamphlet, which obtained a circulation of 60,000 copies. During the civil war he published various letters to members of the cabinet and to the president, advocating the policy of emancipating the slaves. In 1863 he published an address to the citizens of Indiana, showing the disastrous consequences that would follow from the success of the effort then making by certain politicians to reconstruct the Union with New England left out. Of this address the Union league of New York published 50,000 copies, and the Philadelphia Union league 25,000 copies. He has been for many years a prominent believer in the phenomena called spiritualism. His principal works are: "An Outline of the System of Education at New Lanark" (Glasgow, 1824); "Moral Physiology " (New York, 1831); "Discussion with Origen Bachelor on the Personality of God and the Authenticity of the Bible "(1832); "Pocahontas," a historical drama (1837); " Hints on Public Architecture," with 113 illustrations (1849); "Footfalls on the Boundary of Another World" (Philadelphia, 1860); " The Wrong of Slavery and the Right of Emancipation " (1864); " Beyond the Breakers," a novel (1870); "The Debatable Land between this World and the Next" (New York, 1872); and " Threading My Way," being 27 years of autobiography (1874). His "Footfalls " treats of the spontaneous phenomena of spiritualism, and "The Debatable Land " opens with an address to the Protestant clergy on the present attitude of the religious world, while the body of the work sets forth the evidences of spiritual phenomena in general.

III. David Dale

David Dale, an American geologist, brother of the preceding, born in Lanarkshire, Scotland, June 24, 1807, died in New Harmony, Ind., Nov. 13, 1860. He was educated with his brother at Hofwyl, and in 1825 accompanied his father to New Harmony. He afterward passed two years in studying geology and other branches of natural science in Europe, and in 1833 took up his permanent residence in the United States. In 1837 he was employed by the legislature of Indiana to make a geological reconnoissance of the state, the results of which were published in a small work (newed., 1859). He subsequently, under instructions from the general land office, made a minute examination of the mineral lands of Iowa; and in 1848 he was employed by the government to conduct the geological survey of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota. The result of three years' labor in this extensive field was in 1852 published by congress in a 4to volume, accompanied by numerous maps and illustrations. From 1852 to 1857 he conducted the survey of Kentucky, the report of which appeared in four volumes and an atlas (Frankfort, 1856-'61). In 1857 he was appointed state geologist of Arkansas, and the report of his survey was published in 1858-60. He also conducted various important examinations for individuals and corporations.