The Press.
London, England, 1857-04-18 00:00:00

SPANISH ELOQUENCE.

M. OLOZAGA (late Ambassador from the Queen of
Spain to the Court of the Tuileries), and the
Erskine of the Spanish bar, was lately engaged in the
defence of the Iberia, Liberal paper, against a State
prosecution. The trial came on on the 7th, and ez•
cited greater interest with the Madrid publio than
any similar event for some time past. To the elo-
quence and skill of the advocate it is indebted for the
signal triumph it has obtained in its complete
acquittal. In the course of his speech M. Olozaga
alluded in these words to the efforts made to estab-
lish a representative government in his country :

We desire—and I speak in the name of my political
friends of the Iberia, and of the whole Liberal press ( said
the orator)—we desire to see representative government in
all its force and in all its truth. We have indeed passed
through many unhappy circumstances ; but in the conduct
we have pursued he who would say that misfortune and
suffering have turned us aside from that cause, or disgusted
us with it, would be greatly in error. The husbandman
who sees his fields laid waste by the tempest, desolated by
storms of hail, or parched up by the heat, accepts the
visitations of Heaven, and with pious resignation says to
himself, " My sins, perhaps, have brought on me these
disasters." But the patience he shows under suffering
does not affect his philosophic and Christian courage ; and
with renewed energy he returns to his labours, though
with the conviction that the produce of that year is lost to
him. 'We, gentlemen, are those resigned husbandmen,
and we believe that, whether we have or have not contri-
buted ourselves to our disappointments and our reverses,
we become not only worthy of a better fate by our resigna-
tion, our perseverance, and our firmness for the future, but
we render an essential service to our country by combining
together all the means which the law places at our dis-
posal to constitute a legitimate electoral body, of which our
Parliaments are to be the issue, and by so enlightening
public opinion that future Cortes shall be the genuine ex-
pression of the will, the wishes, and the necessities of the
Spanish people.

Gentlemen, representative government is a magnificent
compromise between ancient institutions and modern re-
quirements. It is useful to the people in their social and
political progress, in elevating their dignity, in improving
their education, in securing their welfare, and in teaching
them the difficult science of selfgovernment. To the
Throne it is indispensable as a safeguard against revolu:
tionary shocks, and even against those other dangers which
are less violent and less apparent but more to be dreaded;
and to which it is exposed by certain tendencies it may
not be able to resist openly, but which merit careful atten-
tion, as the complications they involve would affect all
Europe if prudence did not conciliate the conflicting inte-
rests and opinions which divide it. Representative govern-
ment, moreover, enables the Throne to disembarrass itself
of its treacherous friends; of men whose only ambition is
wealth; of men who impoverish it; of men who corrupt
because they adulate it, and of those who are at the same
time ambitious and cowardly; of those creatures who first
bring danger around it, and then basely abandon it in the
hour of peril ! Such is the system of government that
some persons are now pleased to calumniate, but which we
defend with all the force the law gives us; and which, con-
fident in the purity and excellence of our doctrines, we
shall continue to defend with perseverance and courage;
and to obtain the triumph of such a cause we will employ
all the legal means that are still left us, whatever be the
attempts to cheat us of them.

380

THE LIVERPOOL FREE LIBRARY.

THE foundation-stone of a free library and mu-
seum at Liverpool was laid with great ceremony
on Wednesday last, by Mr. W. Brown, M.P. for
South Lancashire. Among the distinguished per-
sons present were Sir John Pakington, M.P., Lord
Stanley, Sir Harry Smith, Sir Edward Cust,
Mr. Monckton Mines, &c. &c. Mr. Alderman S.
Holmes, in opening the proceedings, addressed Mr.
Brown, and called attention to the hon. gentleman's
distinguished munificence :
Sir, you did me the honour, during the. period when I
filled the office of chief magistrate of this town, to
authorise me, when we were reflecting what was best to
be dene, to state to the town council on your lit half your
intention to present 6,0001. towards the fund for building
the proposed new free library. Sir, your munificence
stopped not there. You subsequently proposed to double
that amount, and recently you went still further in the
path of generous munificence, and signified your intention
of taking the ertire cost. And, sir, I well remember the
words which you uttered on that occasion, as you did not
place me in a position which renders it necessary that I
should keep them secret. You stated, sir, that Providence
having blessed your exertions in viving to you consider.
able property, you felt it your duty, while life was yet
spared to you, to devote a portion of that property for the
present and future benefit of those among whom that
property had been earned. Sir, it is a noble thought, a
noble idea, and one well worthy imitation. You have
learned a lesson which a position of immense wealth,
however anomalous it may appear, very rarely teaches.
The stone having been duly laid, the Bishop of
Chester offered up an impressive prayer. Mi. Brown
then delivered a brief address, in the course of which,
alluding to the progress of the age and the desire
for information among all classes, be referred to the
decimal question as one of some importance in con-
nection with education.—

I view this d. Muni question as exceedingly important
in facilitating education, and the mote we forward it the
more we shall be in a position to avail ourselves of the
advantages of libraries. It is only the want of time and
of opportunity in baying access to those sileut friends—
well-chosen books and museums—which prevent, in many
cases, valuable talent being developed that lies dormant
and lost fur ever to the world. We owe a debt of gratitude
to men of science and of letters when we consider the
time and treasure they have spent in solving problems,
trying experiments, making discoveries, and perfecting
machinery. We ought to hold them in the highest esti-
mation as the benefactors of mankind, and must regret
that for want of access to public libraries to ascertain
what was done by others they had sometimes to go over
the same ground to arrive at the same result, and lost
both their time and their labour, which was a great dis-
couragement to further advances. Hence, the more we
cin facilitate the researches of such men, the more we
o.ntribute to the general good in Great Britain and
thrmigheut the world. Look at the history of many of
o it great and distinguished men, who have become so in
ifiite of the difficulties they had to encounter. Let us
r move those difficulties as fur as we possibly can, and aid
the work of progress. It will not be questioned that
knowledge makes us more reflecting beings—enables us
bs.ter to appreciate the value of the Constitution under
which we live and the many advantages that we enjoy, and
b.! less liable to those unfortunate and ill•judged Omni
tions of public opinion which generally add to that distress
which it was intended to alleviate. I have great faith in
free libraries, freedom of discussion, and a free press,
which we pre-eminently enjoy, being the best guarantees
for our liberty, and for our onward progress as a nation in
virtue and in knowledge. So long as we maintain those
elements of instruction we add to the happiness of the
people, the power of the State, the permanency of the Con-
stitution, and secure the stability of the Throne.
Lord Stanley, Sir John Pakington, and Sir Harry
Smith each delivered a brief address, and the pro-
ceedings terminated.
igy At the banquet which followed in the evening,
upwards of WO persons were present, the principal
table being occupied by Lord Stanley, M.P., Sir J.
Pakington, M.P., Sir Harry Smith, the Bishop of
Chester. &c. A letter of regret at inability to attend
tits read from the Earl of Derby. The usual loyal
toasts and a good wish for her Majesty's speedy
recovery having been drunk with great enthusiasm,
"The Army and Navy" were proposed, to which Sir
H wry Smith and Lord Talbot replied in spirited
speeches.
Sir li.AniY SMITH, alluding to the progress of
education in the army, said :
As this is an occasion upon which education is the
principal subject, I will mention that upon a recent
inspection of the 25th Regiment there were 340 of that
r giment voluntarily attending the school, and progressing
in the higher branches of architecture and in practical
k iowledge. Since the days of old, when our army was
ever successful and considered highly honourable, the
archers of those days were thought the best soldiers in the
world, so now may I say are our infantry considered. We
are advancing rapidly in the improvement of the arm
exiled the Millie rifle, and the distant fire is more exact
than I can well describe; but I trust that the old system
of gaining victories by the bayonet, which, in other words,
is a rush of gallant men upon a given point, keeping before
theta their enemies, will not be lost sight of, and that
English soldiers will still learn to grapple with their
enemies.

THE PRESS.

The chairman, Mr. W. HOLME, then proposed the
toast of the evening, " The Health of Mr. William
Brown":—
'

For nearly fifty years as a Liverpool merchant his name
has been among us a household term, and he is yet spared
to crown a long and active life by a princely act, which
is au example to others, and will perpetuate his name to
future ages. I claim Mr. Brown as one who sprung from
the middle classes of life—as one who was early cast upon
the ocean of business, and most manfully, most success-
fully, and most honourably has he played his part. He is
a proof of what may be effected with individual enterprise,
with individual honesty, with individual integrity, in a
country which is blessed with free institutions, where
every man is permitted to reap the fruit of his own indus-
try, and to employ the fruit of that industry for the pur-
pose of blessing his fellow-men and extending the benefits
of education, and in proposing those numerous institu-
tions which. blessed be God unile'. the Christian princi-
ples of England, are scattered like bright gems over the
face of our land.
Mr. BROWN, in reply, spoke of educational ad-
vantages with reference to the extension of commerce
and the scientific progress of the age :

- -
It is clear we livo in an age of progress. The Times
announced the oth:r day that it is probable we shall not
be dependent on raising silkworms for the production of
that valuable raw material, as it has been discovered
that it is in the leaves of the mulberry tree, and can, by
a chemical process, be obtained from them to any ex-
tent. if this discovery can be carried out with economy,
it may make a complete revolution in the use of cotton
by the substitution of silk ; and we may see our females
clothed in robes that added to the dignity of a Roman
emperor. Discoveries of this kind till us with wonder
and amazement. They are due to advancing science,
and I think clearly point out that there is yet an im-
mense field of enterprise open to the world. The long
peace we had from 1815 to the commencement of the
late Russian war was no doubt extremely favourable to
human prooTess. Let us hope that our difficulties with
China maybe of short duration, and end in an honour.
able adjustment of our differences, and that peaceful
commerce will continue to extend, and carry Chris.
tianity and civilisation to every part of the habitable
globe. We cannot but feel ourselves in an enviable
position that it has been our good fortune and our
destiny to plant the Saxon race, with our language, our
laws, our literature, and our religion, in some of the
most rising countries in the world, who feel an h Driest
pride in acknowledging our paternity, where family clic•
ferences never should arise to disturb that good under-
standing and harmony which now happily everywhere
exist, and which it is the duty of all to cultivate and
perpetuate.

- -
The " Health of the House of Stanley " was then
proposed, and drunk amidst much enthusiasm. Lord
STANLEY, M.P., rose to reply. He said :
Gentlemen, it is with more than common pleasure that I
rise upon such an occasion to respond to such a toast.
Between the family which I stand here to represent and
the town whose guest I have the honour to be there has
existed for several centuries an intimate and unbroken
connection. If we are to go back to those old times, I
believe it is now something more than ZOO years ago—
nearly one twelfth of the whole recorded annuls of the
human race—since an ancestor of mine obtained a licence
from the Crown to embattle and fortify a house, the site
of which lies somewhere—l know not exactly where—
buried among the crowded streets and buildiuga of this
vast commercial capital. There may be some vanity in
such reminiscences of past times; but, standing here,
1 may be permitted to say that none can more rejoice,
none can more exult in the present greatness and the
glory of the town of Liverpool than those to whose fore-
fathers were committed the charge of watching over its
earlier and still undeveloped infancy. Gentletoen, we are
told that society in the present day has changed, and in
some respects it is so. Our improved means of commu-
nication everywhere, the rapidity with which transit is
effected from one part of the country to another, have done
much to dispel local prejudices and to destroy provincial
peculiarities. Rut, though they may have destroyed pre.
judice, though they may have destroyed provincial peculi-
arities, though they may have fused as it were the various
elements of these peculiarities into one similar whole, I
do not believe that those characteristics of the present time
have destroyed—l do not believe that they have materially
weakened those ties of local attachment and local sympathy
which are founded upon common interests with the present
—upon common reminiscences of the past—when a
mutual repository of friendship and good offices plays so
important and valuable a part in our social system.
(Cheers.) At least I know this, that in that political
arena—the House of Commons—where my lot is chiefly
cast, we who come from Lancashire, notwithstanding
many diversities of public opinion and conduct—whatever
may be the political ranks in which we serve—are apt to
look upon one another with feelings of mutual friendship
and good will. (" Hear," and cheers.) We are proud,
and jastly proud, of the intelligence and activity of that
section of the population among which we are called ; we
arefitroud, and we may well be proud, of the vast influence
which this country exercises over the counsels of the
State—( cheers )—we are proud, and it is a reasonable
pride, of the more than common proportion of eminent
men whom Lancashire in the present century has con-
tributed to the national service.

The noble lord then alluded to the patriotism exhi-
bited in the late war by our great commercial classes.
They had never hesitated to declare their respon-
sibility. In time of peace, also, they used the ad-
vantages of wealth nobly. The munificence of Mr.
Brown was a case in point

SATII4DAY,

The town of Liverpool may thank him for contributing
what will be hereafter and in future always one of the
principal ornaments of its streets ; the friends of educa-
tion may thank him for having given an impulse to the
cause which puts to shame the comparative apathy both
of individuals and of public bodies elsewhere—(cheers)
—but public men may thank him, and England may thank
him—and it is to this that I attach the greatest import-
ance—for giving to those who are not possessors of wealth
—to the poor and to the labouring classes of this country
—a signal proof that wealth is viewed by those who
possess it, not as a means of pleasure, not as an enjoy-
ment of luxury, but as one means among many of obtain-
ing the respect and the gratitude of our fellow-citizens—
(" Hear, hear," and cheers)—as one means among many of
alleviating those hard thoughts and that envy which, in a
country of occasional distress and unequal fortunes, will
inevitably arise—as one means among many of doing good
and permanent service to England, and of promoting the
progressive improvement of mankind. ( Cheers.) Gentle-
men, if a gift like that which we are this day celebrating
had been obviously dictated by any motives of ambition,
you would accept it with thanks, but you would feel
that the giver had had his reward. (Hear, hear.) If,
also, it were a posthumous benefaction, you would think
the donor entitled to your thanks, but you would feel
that the gift had been made at no sacrifice of present en-
joyment. ( Hear, bear.) But, as it is, you are well aware
that Mr. Brown can have no personal object or interest to
serve, except, indeed, the wish that I apprehend is felt in
all generous minds—the wish of honourably connecting
his name with the history of the community among whom
his life has been passed. (Cheers.) He will see, we
trust, the completion of his own liberality. (Hear.) He
will live to witness the enjoyment which many thousands
derive from the gift which we are celebrating this day.
(Cheers.)

Sir JOHN PAKINGTON, in replying to his health,
in eloquent terms alluded to Mr. Brown's princely
liberality. Mr. Ewart, ➢I.P., Mr. Picton,
Monckton Milnes, and ➢lr. Hawthorne, the United
States' consul, having each addressed the guests, the
proceedings shortly terminated.

LORD ROBERT CECIL ON EDUCATION.
LORD ROBERT CECIL in addressing an influential
meeting at Stamford last Wednesday upon the sub-
ject of education, alluding to the common observation
that we were educating the people too highly, observed
that if any organic change took place in the electoral
system it could not possibly be deemed safe until the
people were educated to meet it :
The other day he saw a speech of a gallant major ad.
dressed to a metropolitan constituency. Major Reed said
he thought every man in England perfectly competent to
educate himself. (Laughter.) Those who had read the
Times newspaper—and he supposed that included all pre-
sent—must know that within a very few weeks there had
been a frightful exposure of the abyss of ignorance upon
which we were standing. Everybody must have read the
extraordinary details of a belief in w:teheratl, furnished by
magistrates from different parts of the country, which
showed that that most ludicrous of all superstitions still
clung with unyielding tenacity to our rural population.
Most of these people were strict believers in witchcraft.
They selieved that whenever a cow fell ill or a pig died
some old woman ought to be tried for it ; and that if any.
body was out late at night they had been carried off by
some spiteful neighbour, and whirled 100 miles an hour
through the air. The very people who believed these
things would be the people who, by the organic changes
alluded to, would be intrusted with the choice of their
representatives in Parliament. Now, remember what the
choice of a representative meant. It meant the choice of
the person who made the laws, who imposed the taxes wo
were to pay, and who devised measures for the security of
our lives and property. Now, if we wished to extend the
franchise to the people in question, it would be absolute
madness to do so unless the educated classes made " a
strong pull, and a pull altogether," to educate them up to
the duties which they would have to perform.

But that was not the only light in which the ques-
tion of education should be viewed. We were
entering upon one of the greatest social changes
that any nation ever ventured upon in attempting the
abolition of transportztion :
Now, for the first time in the history of the world, pos-
sessing a crowded population with every temptation to
crime, and without any of those resources which were at
the command of arbitrary Governments, we were turning
a stream of the most hardened criminals upon the social
system of this country, to go back into their own neigh-
bourhood and be the centres from which crime might
radiate. From all he saw and beard he feared this state
of things would be unchanged, and that that was the system
we should have to pursue ; and the only chance we had to
mitigate these evils and to remedy the dangers that threat-
ened us was to stop the source of crime ; and that was in
a great measure ignorance. He did not say that education
would absolutely abolish crime. There must be a very
different and higher machinery brought to bear upon it.
But lie did say that knowledge was a powerful agent
in the repression of crime; the two were antagonistic one
to the other.
Education again had higher aims ; it was part of the
" great scheme of evangelisation ":
There was now around us heathens as degraded as
could be found in any nation in the world; and what was
a stronger fact still, not only were there such heathens,
but he would venture to say there was nowhere in the
world that stolid, invincible, insuperable ignorance, which