The Press. — London, England, 1854-12-02 00:00:00

1138 which is subscribed in that way from private funds to a public and general object, is so much clear gain to the country ; it is so much taken away from that enormous waste which is produced by private and what one must call selfish luxury—it is so much taken away from that waste and employed for the public advantage. (Cheers.) Next he considered the educational advantage of these institutions, in retaining and improving the knowledge acquired at schools in early life : A great deal is said of the want of a proper supply of schools for the working classes. Now, lam very far from denying that such a deficiency does really exist. But I believe, if we came to look into the matter accurately, we should find that our first and principal want is not so much a greater number, as au improved quality of schools. Now in this matter Parliament may do something ; whether it will is another question. Government inspectors may do a little in raising the standard of teaching; but, after all, neither Parliament nor Government can do all that is wanted. The principal labour, the principal responsibility, must rest, after all, on the parents, and upon no other persons. Well, what have you to do, then, if you want a better system of teaching for children—what you have to do is, to overcome the apathy and indifference of the parents. Now, of those parents there are many who were themselveslbrought up iu ignorance, and who, therefore, as a general rule, cannot be expected to have much feeling many of the advantages of education. But there are others who, having themselves received in their early days a more or less good elementary education, are neverthe less quite indifferent to their children receiving the sch same, on this account -- they say,` We were taught at 00l ; we learnt to read and write, we left school, and after we left school we found that no books were put in our way. It was only occasionally that we could get a newspaper. We had no means of using those acquirements, which we gained with so much labour at school, and therefore they have been comparatively useless." I have heard that lan guage held before now, and I cannot say it was held un truly. You perceive what lam coming to. What I desire to urge is, that if you want school instruction to be pro perly valued, you must make it valuable. It is not valu able unless, for the boy who has left school, fort. e young man, for the grown m an of all ages, you prode such means of continuing his education, or, at all events, of profiting by that power which he has gained of reading with ease and pleasure to himself—unless you provide him with the means of using that power which in his early days he has acquired with so much labour. This, then, is the principal object of institutions of this kind. You supply books, you supply classes, you give instruction by means of lectures to the adult population. Once interest the adult population, once interest grown men and women, fathers and mothers, in this work of education, and rely upon it, in a very few years, you will have such a demand for teaching, improved in quality and extended in quantity, as will compel the passing—or, what would be still better, as would supersede the passing—of a parliamentary mea sure on the subject. (Loud cheers.) Though we had no more right to expect that lite rary to should be universally diffused among the working class more than among other classes, yet lie showed there was abundant proof in our own his tory that working men, even to day-labourers, might attain high intellectual culture : I do not pretend to give a catalogue of those who, be longing to the working class, have achieved intellectual eminence. But men distinguished in literature like Gif ford and Holcroft ; in science, like Hutton, of Binning ham, or Brindley, the engineer—men brought up not only as members of the working classes, but under circum stances of great poverty and destitution; Franklin, the American philosopher and statesman, who in his youth worked as a journeyman printer for a bare subsistence ; a fellow-townsman of your own, who has done more for the cotton trade, and consequently for the prosperity, of Lan cashire than probably any other man--I mean Richard Arkwright, who was brought up in extreme poverty, and in his early days followed the trade of a barber—all those men who had no advantages of wealth or of leisure, and who nevertheless accomplished high intellectual distinction. (Hear.) And if I were to mention men of the present day who are following—at least, so far as industry and energy goes—in the steps of those whom I have named, I believe I might allude to at least one individual, an in habitant of this town—a man who long was, and I telieve is, a member of this institution—a man who has obtained from the books of this institution the greater part of the knowledge which he at present raiseases. I will not name him, because I believe his modesty is equal to his acquirements; but I may mention that he is now at the university, is expected to take a very high degree, and will probably, in mathematical science, accomplish no incon siderable reputation. The person to whom I allude—and many of you know him—was, I believe, a labourer, work ing upon small weekly wages, and at this moment he has a wife who is engaged in one of the factories in this town. Analysing the employment of a workman's hours, he showed that, after fulfilling every call of duty, and allowing time for rest and domestic enjoyment, there was still a margin left for intellectual improvement. One day out of seven he had wholly to himself, and be urged that a portion of the Sunday might pro perly be devoted to mental culture, as knowledge was not profane, but sacred : Now, I mention that because I think there is upon this subject a feeling which I am loth to call a prejudice or a superstition, but which I think is eureniely hurtful to the interests of religion as well as of n,orality, and which does materially interfere with the intellectual culture of the busy, over-tasked working man—l mean a feeling which I don't share, and which 1 believe the majority of an en• lightened public don't share, but which discs in some THE PRESS. places—that it is wrong to devote to intellectual culture, or to any study not distinctly theological, any portion of the Sunday. (Hear.) I think that is an error in any case; in the case of the working man, over-tasked as he is, I am sure it is a fatal mistake. (Hear.) It is easy to say that more holidays should be given, and the hours of labour made fewer, but it must be recollected that we have to compete, and compete under some disadvantages, both in manufactures and agriculture, with the industry of the world, and we cannot afford to relax our efforts in any way. It has been computed, and, i believe, without exaggeration, that a national holiday—a single day during which, by common consent, all work is suspended—a single holiday causes a loss to the community of about a million sterling. It follows, therefore, that we cannot hope for much dimi nution in the hours of labour. Almost the only available time for intellectual cultivation which the working man can obtain, is upon the day on which he rests from his labour. Now don't imagine for a mcment that I would suggest anything that would interfere with the proper dis charge of his religious duties. hut we all know that, reli gious duties being discharged as well or better than many perform them, there still remains a very large amount of time which,by working men in general, is spent in idleness —by a good many in something worse. I believe the greatest educational reform which you could bring about would be to make men understand that intellectual culture is an object which may properly be pursued upon that which our religion declares to be a day of rest. Knowledge is not profane, but sacred, and so far from such an appli cation of a part of that day being contrary to, I believe it would simply be a carrying out of, the purposes for which that day itself was instituted. In conclusion he strongly urged that the friends to popular eLcation ought not to rely much on what the Legislature could do: — The problem of a system of national instruction is not so simple as it seems. Many persons do not see their way through it ; some, perhaps, will not see their way through it. In any case, the best course, the wisest and safest course, is to rely upon our own energies, is to promote education by such means as are in our power—and among such means 1 rank as foremost institutions of this kind — is to place the means of knowledge, the means of instruc tion in the hands of the working man : and when you have done that you may feel assured you will not find him either ungrateful for the privilege or incapable of using it. (The noble lord sat down amid hearty applause.) Sir ROBERT PEET, who was very warmly received, spoke next. He dwelt on the industrial progress a the country, and on the good effect of rendering in stitutions like that as far as possibly independent of extraneous aid. On the advantage of free libraries and of cultivating a taste for reading he said : He would urge every one to cultivate that taste ; it was the most happy of all tastes. Fenelon used to say that, if offered the riches of the Indies in place of his taste for reading, he would spurn them all. Observe what a taste for reading would do. It would not only place them out of the way of vicious habits and idle pursuits, but, with cheap literature and a free press, it at once placed, as it were, the cottage on the same level with the castle or the palace. (dppleasse.) He advocated the cultivation of a taste for reading, but doubted the practicability of carrying out Lord Stanley's suggestion that some portion of the Sunday should be devoted to intellectual culture. He rather favoured the devotion of certain days in the year— say six—as holidays for working men, without any diminution of wages. If there was a money loss from this plan there would be, he thought, a great social gain. He urged the importance of the working classes cultivating habits of frugality, temperance, and industry; that a portion of that 50,000,0001. now annually spent in tobacco and intoxicating liquors might be devoted to gladden the prospects of home. On the following (lay another meeting was held at the institute for the formation of a free library, and it is a striking proof of the interest felt in the subject that 1,0001. was subscribed on the spot without any previous canvass having taken place. THE DUKE OF RICHMOND was entertained at a banquet in the Hopetoun-rooms, Edinburgh, on Wednesday evening, by a large company of officers of the different services who have received the war medal, in acknowledgment of the successful exer tions of his grace in obtaining for them this distinc• tion. Nearly all the officers present wore military or naval decorations. Major-General J. Geddes, K.H., was in the chair, and Rear-Admiral Montgomerte acted as croupier. A LARGE MEETING of the Roman Catholics of London met on Thursday at the Sablionere Hotel, Leicester-square, to present the testimonial to the honourable member for Meath which has been for some time in course of preparation. The chair waL, t aken by the Very Rev. Dr. Whitty, vicar-general of Westminster. The English subscriptions to the testimonial amount to 4501., and the fund is still increasing. THE ROYAL HOSPITAL for the permanent care of those who, by disease, accident, or deformity, are hopelessly disqualified for the duties of life, held its first election at the London Tavern on Tuesday, for the purpose of electing six applicants from a list of thirty approved candidates, all of whose eases were I reported to be incurible. SATURDAY, Sortign aio 60113riiill FRANCE. A grand review of the Imperial Guard took place in Paris on Monday, the proceedings being cnietly designed in honour of Lord Palmerston's visit to the French capital. The infantry of the Guard were drawn up before the Tuileries, the artillery occupying the Place de la Concorde and the cavalry the Champs Elysees The Emperor as he rode along was most enthusiastically hailed. After passing along the front of the lines of troops his Majesty returned and placed himself in trout of the Pavilion d'Horloge, on the balcony of which were the Empress, attended by the ladies of her household, and accompanied by several illustrous personages, among whom was Lord Palmerston. The troops then filed before the Emperor, who was hailed with loud cries of " Five l'Empereur " from the troops, which were loudly taken up and repeated by the immense crowd of persons assembled. The French Senate and Legislative body have been called together for the 26th inst. The exporta tion of grain and flour has been prohibited up to the 31st July, 1855. The two divisions composing the French army of the Danube will consist of upwards of 20,000 men. The generals of division at the camps of Honvault, Fimereux, Atubleteuse, and Equihen on Saturday received by telegraph orders from Pruitt to accept volunteers for the Crimea from every company, of every regiment under their command to the number of ten. The officers were called toge• titer at five o'clock, and at seven the various companies were mustered and addressed by the captains, who told them that the Emperor desired to forward more troops to the East, and that ten volunteers were required from every company In five minutes the whole number stood forward. In some of the companies thirty, in some forty, im mediately volunteered, to the cries of " Viva l'Empereur !" Where so many presented themselves they drew lots as to who should be the fortunate men to fight against the Russians. Very important modifimtions of the French army are now under discussion. It is proposed to create twenty more battalions of the Chasseurs de Vincennes, the great utility of that corps having been to strikingly manifested. his also proposed to place the third battalions of every regiment on the war footing, and to form a fourth battalion to each in the depots. Some of the generals who have been consulted, however, contend that as the Chasseurs de Vincennes must be composed of the homntes d'ilite of the army in general, and replaced by conscripts or recruits, they would enervate the army at a moment when it is required to be on the most effective footing. The Charlemagne and the steam-frigates Sane and Infernal arrived on Tuesday from the Crimea at Toulon. Three large steamers—the Alps, Thames, and Ripon also reached Toulon from England. Three ships-of-the line and eight frigates or steamers were at the, same port, awaiting more favourable weather to embark trcops. The Emu and sevJral hired vessels had sailed with troops fur Constan tinople. The following is mentioned as an instance of the rapidity with which artillery can be conveyed by railway. Two battalions of artillery of the lOW It: ginient, in garrison at St. Mato , having proceeded by forced marches to Mans, there took the railwa they to Paris, and thence to Lyons, performing journey from St. Mato to that city in thirty-six hours. These batteries are on the war looting, with caisons, forges, and 250 horses each. The Salut Public of Lyons states that agents had been engaged buying up at the butchers' stalls . all the sheepskins on sale, having a contract to deliver in as short a period as possible 80,000 prepared skins tor the use of the French array in the East. It is said that M. Ivanhoff, former Secretary been of the Russian Embassy, whose presence had tolerated in Paris, has received orders to quit France. A similar order the has been given to all R uss ians, even the servants of that nation, still re siding in that country. Madame Solomons, the mother-in-law of Baron de Rothschild, died on Monday last. The Duke de Mouchey, a senator, an ex-represen tative of the people, and a well known director of several important public companies, is just dead. The French Government has decided that a rail way shall be formed between Calais and Boulogne sur-Mer, and surveys for it are immediately to be commenced. The Emperor and Empress were present last week at an experiment of the machine fur transplanting trees, invented by Mr. Stewart MaeGlashiu, of Edin burgh. The trial was attended with complete success, and his Majesty, after pur ;liasing the apparatus, requested the inventor to proceed to St. Cloud, to teach the gardeners of the palace the manner of working it. Id. Sobrier, one of the principal actors in the revo lution of 1848, who was condemned to banuibment p \ki.