The Press. — London, England, 1853-06-11 00:00:00

JUNE 11, 1853• Bishop delivered the keys of the new edifice into the hands of Mr. Ashworth, the appointed principal of the college, and in a brief speech impressed upon him the duties of his office. At the same time, with that adroit urbanity for which he is distinguished, he introduced Lord Derby to the assembled au dience. Lord Derby responded as follows Ladies and tientlemen—Although I feel that I can ndd little and may even diminish something front the effect of that which has been so clearly and so solemnly placed be t Ore you by the right reverend prelate who presides over this diocese, yet I cannot deprive myself of the satisfaction of assurint.., him and you how highly 1 feel myself honoured by being invited to take pail, in virtue of my re. cent cionnection with this ditteese, its the important pro ceedings of this day, pnoceedings which cannot. but furnish matter of the deepest interest to all those who, like my self, and like those whom I have the honour of addressing, feel slimily in behalf of the mond training and the social advancement of the population of this great country. (llrar, hear.) Anti when I speak of the population. I Mean emphatically tel apply the phrase to that portion of it which has been correctly stated by the right rev. prelate to be the strength and staple of the country, to those middle classes which, daily rising into intelligence and import ance, daily acquiring more weight in the social scale, be come of more and wore consequence to the general wel fare, but for whose moral trai ning, till of late years. pro. vision has been made upon a scale, as compared With the ebonies above or below them, very disproportionate to the amount of influence which, for good or for evil, that poi , don of the population must exercise 1111011 the country at large. (Hear, hear.) tientiouen, we live in an age of progress—it is impossible to glen' it. We live in 'el age of rapid intellectual and unprecedented material progress. Science is every day making new strides—fresh discoveries. and fresh inventions, are day by day exercising their intim enee upon the whole social habits slid constitution of the people of this country. ( Hear.) Within the memory of many of those whom I. mu now addressing, within my own memory certainly, great diseoveries have taken place, whose operation, partly visible, but much more indirect and not at once perceived. materially affects the whole of the social condition of this country. (Hear, hear.) We o do nt tak notice as they arise of those great discoveries anti o gre t o inventions ; we do not estimate b e for.liand their results ; and after tiny have been discovered, anti those results develop themselves, we familiarise ourselves with the state of things which then exists, but we forget to look back on the past, anti we are too apt to neglect examining anti comparing the existing condition of things with that prior condition which was once familiar to us. (Hear, hear.) It is only within the last few years that that mighty discovery has been added to the realms of science by which, to use a forcible eXpreSSiol l , I have somewhere read, we seize hold of the lightning spark and we use it as our pen, annihilating time and distance for the purpose of spreading in an incredibly short period our thoughts, our feelings, and our intelligence, to the most distant corners of this anti even of other countries. (('here's.) It was said by the poet that there is, in the figurative Sense, all " electric chain wherewith we are darkly bound," but that electric chain has ceased to he a figure of speech, and that mighty power is bringing together for good unit for evil the remotest corners, lust merely of these little islands, but of the whole habitable world. (Hear, hear.) Again, it is not thirty years—l know not whether I ought to confess it—since I was myself at member of a committee of the Rouse of Commons which, upon the showing of the promoters, rejected the first bill that was introduced for an iron railroad, and for applying to it, if it should be found practicable, the loco 'motive power of steam. ("Hear, hear," anti laughter.) I remember yet further, when we boasted, 'lnd we Wasted wit't melon, that we had in Loudon the hest and most bril liantly illuminated metroptolis in the world, when at the time all our boasted illumination consisted nf some wretehed oil -lamps, which would now lie despised by the mo-Awrete'led country town, anti when there was no end to the, torrents of seemingly ingenious ridicule which were east igen the Utopian theory or dreamt of pavements and public ways lit by gas. (Hear, hear.) I migt g o t further : a whole generation has not gone by since ri les ti introduction of a system which has now been superseded. There aT r living those who remember the first harshly tion of the gigantic projeet late Mr. Palmer, who in conceived anti nominees' the WialllrollB SelWille of transmitting the postal c ' .otions of this country by means of da i ly mails st the unheard of speed sof seven miles all h our. (.4 bnigh.) Well, now, we find it difficult to realise to ounielves what. the country was before those great inventions. We Mel it difficult to realise to 11111e1Ves what probable effect these and other wirer es. which the esnainually inereasing power of science may ash' no the knowledge anti resources of the rsountry. will 'wieldier pm. due... lint that which does convert, its is tea aseertain whe ther, in the course of this rapid miswrite' progress which has taken place, affecting as it does all flosses of the. e • try, stimulating comfit; 000 i o tiwilitating intercourse. bringing men personally into co action who lleVer met before. producing coneert anti collision ttt i t ar.ousing and m okiislyieg con 1111 l entcrprise. adding to th..• wealth of the country, and atdoling also Wait eetly to its population—whether floe moral mud reliuioms proglvss of th.• country has kept pace with that vast material pro ogress, mold those various elements of power. and Also of danger, wi t ieb are the inseparable conoomitimts of those prodigious inventions. (Hear, hear.) No doubt there are IllySteries of nature infinite aS the mysteries of the Author of toe tore : and all that science has yet done—all that successive generations of men have effeetesi—has enabled as to anent to Ow knowledge of but little. rompers' with that infinite unknown which lies beyond the sum of human capticities and Intelligence set compared with what has been dotr in borTer times, trifthig as it is ill COMpariSoll w ith what re twavcomplilltd and unknown, the strides which THE PRESS. this generation has made in the proseeution and cultivation of science, and extension of general knowledge among the population of this country. may he indeed termed by com parison gigantie. hut, gentlemen. that increase of science and extension of knowledge is not, nay. it is a very different thing front. the increase• of education—( /byte)—may more. I wilt say that the more that knowledge is extended and tilt. filmiest, the more• it is mweessary to extend slew anal diffuse alike the blessing?' tat' that edueation by which alone that knowledge , can be 'entitied and senectifietl. and led tea at higher end than the attainment of merely worldly 11.111111. tag... And as that knowledge is applied. it depends whe ther the great society of which we are' member% is tee he composed of formed after the image of tiod, mid in his likeness, anti purified by his lioly Spirit, or whether that society, imbued with knowledge MA *I purified, and not rosemetitied, is in truth to Is' a gigantic. monster. a .. I Fnutkenstein—em creature of incredible beauty and power, but whose beauty anti power are only the more ter tibia 'swains. unguided /Mal Illlsalllrt 'it by a purer anti holier spirit—whose heathy, capacity. strength, and power make it only a more tilting instrument for bringing tie struction and desolation upon other communities. ( Loud cheering.) teentletnen. in early times the wisdom of our forefathers, according to their lights awl according tat the reeptiretements of their age, made great Mitt libend provesi tttt for the diffusion of such education us they could continent& I need nut point to the noble institution with which 1 have now the honour of being comeeetell-1 nerd not point to the sister university of Canithridge, their various halls anti colleges, the 14010411 S of royal anti noble tttt telethon. Eton. West ttt i t ester, Winchester ; but tlineitgle out the length and lomateith of the land, anal c'hi'lly for the humbler classes of the et) ttttt illy, establishments were provided, under time eOtlillll and Ilirt'etioll eat' time national clergy, conspreleetteling a vast amount of canoe t• I power, patiaking all of the religious and, in some degree, of the eleemosynary character, for the purpose of training up in the fear of God, and such literature as the time allowed, the children alike of the upper, the middle, and the lower classes. (Hear, hear.) 'l•lnvough the nice ilium of such institutions, though many of them leave been perverttst from their original purpose--tierough the lime dium of similes' institutions in the universities —there is many an instance of persons in the lenteelele walks of life of whotu the poet might have have s ung with truth— " m .y repressed their noble rage. And froze tlw genies etirreitt of their soul but who, i11t11.4111041 hates plaice's and situations where they had an opportunity tat' obtaining the last ideas of seience, and a pplying to them the m Mews of self-denial and noble diligence, have found their rich reward in taking their pla it ce tttttt teg the neaster - spieits of time age--(ehreroi—em pluee ele more especially to those who combine with genius hole fatigable excellent anti steady self-denial—who know that ma great objects cane be attained without sustained wed per sem wing exert' , and who have sought earnestly to avail themselves of those advantages which the piety well wisdom of our forefathers leave placed at their elispotad. ( loon! chrem) lint those histitlititill*, as I IMP !Aided, weer mostly teethed to the purposes of an sage in which education, proiwrly speaking. was confined t o those who were destined for the service of the Church, or the few who intended to devote themselves exelusively to literary studies. For a com deralele • e after the Reformation, anti even until ea comparatively recent period, there were many who held that for time humbler elsoeses of this country overwthwation was dangerous, and that all that wa n t required wits InNt 511 11111141 ill aimianllt as would enable them to read whiteout eihti ealty, or rather to spell out a chapter in the Bible . (liens. hear.) I ientletneil. I situ afraid we cannot conceal from ttttt selves that timing time hest century all classes tat' the com munity-Imnd 1 am afraid 1 cannot exempt from that censure the clergy of time Church of England—had sunk into a state of lamentable apathy in respect to the discharge of those ditties 1111 l Which 1001411 tat 1111• cluesetion the people. ( /frier, hear.) In those obeys the peopetledieon of the dishicts was routine& in the aloe:mew of ally facilities for centime 11l i t -What, within the narrow space he which the circle of their daily ledown• loomed them down ; suecessive genenitions were bone, vegetated, RIIII. died ill contented ignorance, little alleviated ley the l'alt'less NMI apathetic discharge of a very small 1).11-tioll sat' the duties of the cireicael 'office. ( Hear. l lint unhappily, us wit!' Nitre to he the east', whilst men slept the enemy sowed tiara's, and in the coma ry parishes infidelity tiii4l vice wen! 11w iueyihtble plvgruy of spiritual 1111.1 intellectual darkness. ( hear.) Hitt father, there- rose tap a new element. beyond perhaps the controlling power even of a body mine devoted to their duties than aet that day—l iris 1w praised! the ens.• is very title reset. now—Were the parochial clergy or the With the growth 11*11111' 111111111. factuiug and conemenial system the great towthe begun to rise into impolieneve, aflame lcopulitioe , was 11111110 a brother leaving many tenant unities eat' ts inquiring ' I with I, of disrnssing 111111 111 11.11S1 ttt t lig—shrewd, leard-hemelesi, hard- Va soiling, intelligent workmen, MI% iarlis to pmt ill.'lll/Wit hil*Wlllll Ili lift., hilt outgrown the IHAVITS of the parochial system, and having c onsempeently, lie their jlgll.l. 111111.4. of spirited things, iittie desire except of obtaining f ea. tioluselves awl their children that amour of kneoule.dge whirl' they saw woes essential. but ea knowledge. confined only to that wleirh would advance them in the ordinary convene:Or their life. ( tre e . hear.) There arose eels, its the towels an illialilll* class—a riass laimoming few their daily bread, or i limps earning it in at less creditable. l'l', WO 1111 big little foretheaught, and little rare exeept for 14ne- IVy beg the selfish instincts and animal Wants of lair Hahne, gad taco prone tee he led away by the vie-ions gratifirations of sensuality. and full into brutal exeesses when an oppeatunity presented itself ell 111.14611 g in 1114.111. ( liner. !ne a r.) Goil forbid l sho uld say that this is aVI irrect ge.teeral pietme. of th • matenfactue hag navies, of the mfrent industrial and mut ts o teal eonamunities of this eountry ; still more, (Mod forbid I should say that it is a convet description of the need population of this greet* empire, though 1 fear that, both its the we'd towns and in the ruad districts, tliei'e at'' too many of our population who answer to the description I have given, and who are an eating plague and cancer in our social system. (Hear.) Against the evils of ignorance the e ti.y is roused and e•eited. buts I doubt whether the country is equally sensible of a &OWE which I hold to be not less than that of brutal ignorance-4 mean the danger of instructed and enlightened infidelity : awl it is against both these that, if we would sloe our 4.0 country front the inevitable co muspamees of t ut) p. we t, concurrent plagnes--it is Against them' t h at the OM% aro tube directed of all who know that the virtue and kutesvltslge As we ll It s the t 111111111 l of a people sue the %nivel safeguard of its welfare, and that witl 1111 l t it no country can prosper, and no etauttry, in the presence of t toll. call hope to prosper. ( I ',iris if " Hea r. Lear, hear. - ) ticutlemvu, by whom is it that efforts are to Ise mole to eta. ter these gigantic evils ? How are we to apply one-wives to deal with that which, if not ehecketl• it' not controlled, if nut remedied, toast lead to isousispiilives day by day loon* is•vnieioits anti nm. destructive? (Bear, hews. I lln whom does this linty den& t•? It devolves on you, it devolves on tilt., it devolves son all of ads—( cheers'—it devolves tin all alio have a human lit.an in their bosom, upon all who ilia feel for the welfare of their neighbours and their t• try men, who eon teel filr their slistresst•it Mid ealiklailies„ and mho teel, also, that there can Is. no distt.ess and no ,'inanity which sl 1111 l 141 demand so •li pity. n Inch sloolld cult so loudly tier aid as the e t I 1 ii l l it le a evils (11* 1111111011 y aid ignorant.... t Great , herring. ) No stollbt the universal lia.lllHlld fur knowledge, the • .ersal desire for instruction, has led to the 6tri llet noll o f m us t y e stalilishint.nts and many 1114.1111/4 of 111111 'thug 6sr the in. 'Art*l,ll4lll oldie • Idle classes. Popular 'ell Ml's, 111,114111 it•S' i ns tit u t e s, th e v 1 4611104 Hitplialllcus for giving all easy high road to 1.4141144'—'1114'141' are what many of them Must desire. and the de 1 lists regulated and piswitred the supply. Itttt that 6w which there is not the sa me s u 11111 l il l o rd ewin w,t, foremost., unhappily, in the operation of suture, we least feel those of our 1111111,1 which, 11(14111.1414111g 1111.111M.M.14 to the month mid spiritual p.in of man, an the most ilifiltnill 14 supply—that 6,1. %hid, there is not the saute dp isiti i ii i, 51111 isaiseeptently not then • s upply, is ii s . 1091% i s i o1 o f well-unfired morn) 111141 religi tttt 14 1117.11.11411011. ( I h oe , h ear , hear.) I believe that there is it grt•itt portion of this country--1 lielieu . „ I 11111 happy ti , believe, that the Vast majority lit the people of this country, in 4111101.111011 to II s mall section Of it, are of opinion that Ito education 114 ill itself desirable or valuable which floes not combine n•li• giims a iili secular instrurtion. t I 'Ayers% 1 I Hlll i'VrtHill that 1111011 that principle the great maim ity ill Parliitincin air t lispstseil to proceed, and I believe that ill that partii•ular they correetly represent the sense of Ike ;0140 majority of the country. ( ii, or. hear.) Porliamuttt loos become s 011• sit& of the evils HMI the dangers which we had incurred from the laxity and 41-I'sor4 O f WO ' 'O c a l a lo•Es, and within IV4.4lll..years istllli tttt ally -inert•itsing, grants inn t• liven ofiert•ti by the Legislature, n o t for the purpose of superseding private pationage and the exertions ;if individuals, lint for the purpose of aiding, st• lining, awl exeiting Ideal e‘ertions and t.tainibutions in the 66 1111' and 'Henry of all t•lasses of tits. t. •ty ill ittimml ill a strictly religious education. Moir, hello', hear.) Hitt among the various religious denominations into whit li this country is imitate pily divided this great difficulty arises. that st•ligions edu cation icing necessarily smigilt•il with seintlor, such telig' isliteatitui can only be Most alhaintagisiiis when it is applied through the 111491 . of those whilst! religions pritimples co iint.itle with those of the people wl tttttt they ste to nostrum. I must do the l'ostustant dissenters the justiet• to nay that they were the find to point out the apathy of termer tittles, imil to s • late piddle intention to the nee,•ssity of tell gi tttt 06 i11511 . 166.t it'll ; lint. I am proud 1.5 511, 4111 Itelitill of the I %arch of %bll4l I 11111 11111111111111 e 11111 3111111611•111.11111V11111er, that in n•ferettet• to efliois 64 the promiition of 'teal secular moil religious education they stand proudly pre• tin i n ess', far also(' the propoilion of their number and tlllll* istemis, far above the proptinitmal efforts of any other holly 4 11101.6601 s ill this country (Ileac, low, hear.) I have no statistical figures by ate, and I um afraid to state the very large proport' whit•li, I nifermitent priweeding upon the principle of OA pug aid to local v7(01141114, the Churelt of England receit es tint of the i ttttt nal parliamentary land. I lbws., lo•or.) i 11t shut. I wish to state to you is this—that, it' it be every 11111164 interest to promote the religi s *•11111.111i1111 of the country, it is locealially the ints•irst. till' 411 1 :1411, the 611111(1411 duty of thapse who are a ltaehed members of the I'llitivli of England, to do their utmost for the promotion of colnesttion iii es Inlet . With the l'horeli of which they Me members, an to make the 1 schoolmaster, as In. ought to lw, the right lianil of the eli.11{1111(11, 11l instructing the community at ho g ' . (Ifror, hem., hear.) But how is this to Is' d o ne ? We me awake in'{ to a %Vl'Se of oar 'odious! r..splai ibility, we an' awaking to it sense of o u r ditheultios and of our slairt• comings. ( noir.) In finnier times— I trust that feeling is passing natty, thiaigli it unhappily is nut ex tin c t—a man mitittill for ;nothing rho . was 'kenod lo himself H od I l i * hiends fitted for the ottieo• of sehoolloaster. The broken dim 11 1 rus lesiiimi, the In,: it who by intemperance Ilmil riiiiirsi 11ini,...1f and I leis family, the man of laphh(' b o dily health, the nom alio might Iseetsnit• nt any misinent a bur. duo upon the prish. was 1...) 11111 101 114• lotted by th e to te. poets 11l fill* the filloetitool of a sehompluistiot.r, itlie was tit 11, 1 . le d f l int! else. 1•• 'leer," Hod o Neigh.) I hope a ditr er ,. li t surd , r ins things is rising : I hope NV ill VIVI-lee better than 6iniss.rly the iliffitnaltn.s, the 'taint tesponsi bilitv sit' the 1-liiirge a hielt 'let e1t0.4 1111011 the tenelier Of yf i nth. For. if. in the Mistime of parents, ill the Il lOiVi lid. 111111. 4111111/11114 , 11 of the clergyman linos 'lf. whit ninist attend to the spiritual wants of his thick, and this finds it impossible for Min to (Isola.• his t • •to the whim', it is the lousiness of the sehoolinaster to do that which is the prineipal oloject of eslitration—to train lip the youthful • d in the love of right and abhorrence o f evil, with a know ledg,e, not merely theoretical, but practical, of the re t valet, word of I iron , and of the ditties which are to devolve upon the children afterattnls in their separate stages of !