The Press.
London, England, 1858-10-23 00:00:00

THE PRESS, OCTOBER 23, 1858.

of returning to their native country, it would be wet'
if copies of the Scriptures, in Chinese, could be placed
in their hands, so that they might learn the great
trutbsof Christianity. It is, pursued the noble earl,
the secret of the greatness of our empire that we have
been called to this great work. It is the secret of
our wealth, that amid much imperfection and many
sad fallings off, this book (the Bible) has nevertheless
been professedly and really the law of our public an,l
private life. It is the secret of our safety that, not
neglecting the subordinate means of defence that
God has placed at our disposal, our main hope and
sole assurance lie in obedience to His will and in the
performance of His service ; and when any one shall
come to this country to spy out the strength or the
weakness of the land, we will not, like Hezekiab, take
him to see our gold and our silver and the host of
our armies; but we will take him to the storehouses
of the Bible Society ; we will exhibit the treasures
there lying ready for distriuution; we will tell him
what, by God's blessing, we have done, and what we
are going to do; we will bring him to meetings such
as this, and let him behold the vigour of the empire,
and the spiritual and intellectual sinew and muscle of
old England. And then, he shall see with his eyes,
and hear with his ears, and judge with his judgment,
that we have given life, and truth, and holiness, to a
proverb of the day, and that we have proved beyond
doubt, and beyond the possibility of contradiction,
that there is a work in which " knowledge is powei."

THE EARL OF CARLISLE ON EDUCATION.
THE EARL OF CARLISLE, in distributing the certiti•
cates of merit awarded by the Society of Arts to the
successful candidates in connection with the classes
of the Manchester Mechanics Institution, addressed
his audience on the subject of education. The noble
Earl, who on rising was received with loud cheers,
contrasted the mechanics' institution of that day with
the mechanics' institution which he visited in Man-
chester twenty-five years ago, and gave an interesting
account of the present state of the institution. He
then cordially congratulated the successful candi-
dates on the success which they had achieved, and
earnestly exhorted them to persevere in the laudable
and honourable career on which they seemed to have
entered. lie would exhort them, one and all, both
those to whom be was about to deliver those marks
of well.earned honour and distinction, and those who
had laudably, though not in this instance success-
fully, joined in the struggle—he would earnestly en-
deavour to impress upon them all, wherever their
future destinies might lead them, to remember this,
that the work of education, properly so considered,
did not terminate with the class room, or professor's
lecture, or the mechanics' institute. Each succeeding
day of their lives might add to their knowledge, and
every passing moment of that time promote their
personal improvement, which was more important
will. Let them strive by every means in their power
to attain the highest degrees of usefulness to the ge-
neration in which they lived. This was an aim and
an ambition which all men might lawfully and laud-
ably propose to themselves. But while they used
their utmost endeavours to attain to the highest
degrees of usefulness, let them at the same time be
content with any opportunity which might be afforded
to them of being useful even in the smallest way.
The statues of Watt and of Dalton adorn one of the
noblest spaces in this town. But it was not every one
who could hope to become a Watt or a Dalton, any
.more than it was given to any set of men to become
bliaksperes or Miltons. Fur, in the words of the
wet--

Not to one in this benighted age
le that diviner inspiration given
That blows in Milkin's or in Shalcespere's page—
The pomp and prodigality of Heaven.
But, because they could not attain the very brightest
and most immortal chaplets of literature, it was no
reason why the common, smooth, current paths of
literature and knowledge should be neglected. All
could not be at the very summit of the mountain,
ail could not be at the very top of the tree. The
aristocracy of genius was still more limited than
the other aristocracies of birth, of wealth, of personal
arength, or beauty. But the aristocracy of virtue,
Which might not, he feared, perhaps contain a
larger actual number of persons, yet had this pecu-
liarity in it, distinguishing it from all other aristocra-
cies—that it might be co extensive with mankind,
and it was every man's own fault if he did Snot make
one of that peerless aristocracy. He did not know
how many of them, or if any of them were destined
to be great, but he felt confident that every one of
theta, if he would only make a conscientious endea-
vour, and if he would only in so doing rely upon the
Divine assie4nce--ever7 one of them might be good
244 happy,