The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1874-05-30 00:00:00

:*toutbriby Obserber.
SATURDAY, MAY 30, 1874.
NATIONAL MUSEUMS AND
GALLERIES.

While the House of Commons has been
considering whether the national museums
and art galleries shall be opened to the pub-
lic during a portion of Sunday, a meeting
has been held in the Society of Arts for the
purpose of discussing a inure practical ques-
tion. The location of the society is the
Adelphi, a region situate betwen the silent
highway of the Thames and the crowded
thoroughfare of the Strand, and some of the
views which have from time to time been
a 'emitted w'thin its walls are, it must be
admitted, more of a visionary than of R
substantial character. More pretty little
theories have been evolved at the Society of
Arts than at any similar institution in Lon-
don. But on the occasion of which we speak,
there was no mistaking the importance of
the question which was the cause of the
gathering--how are the benefits of our
national museums to be most widely diffused,
and how are the accumulations of art and
science, the result mainly of public grants,
to be made accessible to the bulk of the
nation whose money has helped to pay for
them? Now this is a matter which more
directly affects the provinces than it con-
cerns the capital. At present our art
treasures and our collections of priceless
curiosities are stored in the metropolis; but
Birmingham and Leeds, Manchester and
sheflield, Liverpool and Bristol, have con-
tributed t heir quota to the national exchequer
for the maintenance of those institutions,
while they enjoy none of their advantages.
There can be no doubt of the value of
1111110311 ms as adjuncts of popplar teaching,
and there is equally little doubt that the
collections in London are much overcrowded.
Ourgreat towns, knowing this full well, urge
that they have as keen an interest in the art
wealth of the nation as the capital in which
it is now stored. The chances are that in
our provincial cities the value of the objects
in our museums and art galleries would be
better appreciated than they are be the
People of London. The inhabitants of
Tottenham Court-road, which is within a
stone's throw of the British Museum,seldom
think of visiting that institution; and the
tradesmen of Parliament-street rarely con-
sider it worth while to 115 k in at the National
Gallery. But if we could transport these
collections to either of the great centress of
population in the provinces, the interest
awakened in them would be a new and a
keen one, and the comparative indifference
with which they are now regarded would
disappear.
We cannot, of course, remove the national
institutions bodily from London, but the
plan suggested is that such portions of our
great collectionsas may be best adapted to
the wants of particular places shall be sent
on loan from town, thus circulating a stream
of art influence throughout the nation.
.There.is tillY
fla eciotu-lir not conveniently
make room for these public treasures, and
where a place did not possess the proper
facilities, these might surely be provided.
The authorities of the South Kensington
Museum have already adopted this plan to
a limited extent, and they declare that its
benefits are real and apparent. Let London
lend sonic of her curiosities to Liverpool or
Manchester, and either of these busy cities
would doubtless have something to lend
London in return. Theoretically this scheme
would ensure the temporary possession of
our movable art works by every chief town
in the kingdom within a given number of
years. The trustees of the British Museum
would by this means be relieved of a diffi-
culty with which they are now perpetually
confronted how properly to house their
constantly increasing stores of curiosities.
There are traditions that valuable antiquities
are at this moment rotting in the damp
cellars of this institution simply because
there is no room above the basement floor for
their display. How many could tell where
the relice of ancient Carthage were stored ?
All of us have read in our schoolboy days of
the history of Rome and Carthage, of the
fierce Annie wars betwen Hannibal and
Scipio, and of their ultimate termination.
One hundred and fifty years before the Chris-
tian era, the Carthaginians having been at
last utterly defeated, a decree went forth
from the Roman Senate that Carthage
should be destroyed, and destroyed it was.
Its relies, after having been buried more :
than 2,000 years, were brought to England
in 1861, and deposited in the British Museum,
yet we venture to say that nineteentwentieths
of those who have since gone in and out of
the building have never set sight on them.
' Yet a local schoolmaster, could he have the
opportunity, would examine them with the
most eager interest. He could point out
their peculiarities to his pupils' and with
such antiquities bodily before them, a new
zest would be given to the study of history.
Similar results would follow a personal
inspection of the other descriptions of
portable antiquities which are now completely
lost to view.
It is of course admitted that the carrying
into execution of such a scheme would
involve a demand upon the public purse. In
some cases new buildings would have to be
erected; in others old ones would require
either to be enlarged oraltered. Thcobject
being a national one, the burden of its cost
ought not to be thrown upon localities. But
is nation which can afford to spend half a
million sterling upon an experimental iron-
clad, ought not to begrudge a twentieth part
of that amount for a purpose which spreads
an educational influence, and furnishes
means for that technical training whieh is of
so much importance to our artisian classes.
Knowledge is power, and while we are spend-
ing our millions annually over our fleets and
our armies, let us not forget to use every
means in our power for spread of instruction
amongst our people.