The Express.
London, England, 1858-10-13 00:00:00

,NA TIONAL ABBOCLITION POE THE

PROMOTION Oi SOCIAL SCIENCE.

(MOW OVA OWN 1.1PO1TIA.)
LIVZ&POOL, Tonsiosy.
?Ids iamb& at 11 deb*, a vary brie andlease mem-
hied fa be sesesdiesat can the*, of fit. Gateges Hall,
Is leer Lad Boregbases prembad mass. The lid& sad
bused lord segos mask pmeolsol, mad at the appointed
hear seam upon the *lam, aocompsnied by Lord J.
Ratak Yr Bad c 4 Illafteshery, the Hart of Carlisle, Yr.
W. Cowper, 11. P., air I. Paldagtoa, M.P., Mr. N. Maas,
Y.P., Mr. W. Brown, ILP., Mr. Bansmd, NU., Mr. Ad-
derby. PiLl'., 14. Mary, /LP., sad some My OM of ilia
plicipal ..share sad Allem of He ameedailon.
The Noble sad Immo/ lard Mein label his seat la the
pealbrit's chair, inamedistely roes and spob the Mewing
abase

Lord Ham:Fowl said—lt is in seepeeksbb Mist to
dons who adorable the dioalica of malt= essussolod
with the pewees of improthmaa, that they me se lamp,
caned yea to dwacastrete the faadaithatal gropeellkew—e
low years ye the 'abject of malmsey, sad eepsoially the
expaliary, theladiaa, of come, the Way, of Maths
knowledge of every dustpan wavy ell ohms of the
myth The days have thy awe b whoa It was dammed
aeoeseeY for the pass of soeisly, lhat Old lonise fa
geseral, thin that at say ma paled althea &mkt be NS.
lad to tko upper orders of the mannity,, es Y the tumble
was Mbar Wavelet of semaeoheselha it or melt Is
be b with h. Maylly millset be asp ttvr
eves kr those sameiss of proper to tbsw this itee--thoes
who /rood their political mead upon then religious hello"
vibes they sell Is mind the grand dirseeity between eNe
pee bead sad the fibs game ethsh It happily sup.
*Mei, the dailbodca that above every other aim
Its Walls misib.rtty, aid peahens its divine veleta.
The berihrae, eves the trim earn tiro, took the swat
MINIM balm the mane chime If the eamonly.
Minh ttls sdasemise of pour hymeneal have boa
wan to the maxi temehen. Balky issmeelmlity la oar
thimble lea% of ea My they me Ole Mer—that
wadi eery be imini to nob If a high"' other: " ■ gab
prams umethas lath si nit nyiaatibas Ikea as cent
*argon =dogmata/ townie ant..," soya Tooke's. " But
no," mays Cowper, the Christian poet end sego,

" Bat no the diver trtunises heanal call
Bawds for the poor; it sounds alike for all
AB such diellasticas lave bean swept away by the sane
Gospel tibia Issught life and immortality to light, end the
sad el the serseitespaelizy, of the humblest of His matures,
p se praises es lid tithe exalted, In the eyes of Rim with.
est whom will a swam fells not to the ground. Fran
all doubts sad ell rednanente of cuts, therefore, we
GEO now bay relieved ; and the word having
gone forth inweinbis that the people shall be toed,
we are only left M madder what is the best, became
the most effectual, mode of teaching. The course puma
with this object in Mew during the last thirty or forty years
has been to regard self-education as the great instrument,
and therein, reading as the principal moans, of learning,
with the help of such oral talented= as can be obtained
through lectures. But as Individual or private reading
forma the balk of the process, everything was admitted to
depend upon affording easy atom to works of an instructive
kind, and at the same time of a astute to attract readers.
When, 36 years ago, I addressed the working classes sad
their employers la a tract (of which the 23rd wittiest lies
before me), pointing out the advantages as weU as the duty
of Mead* their information, I announced the steps about
to be lakes of aaddishing an association of which the mein
objects should be the preparing and publishing of works to
help self-edundea. The Maul Knowledge Bosaity was
accordingly termed, and its labours were entirely susenellal.
The price of books, maps, and prints woe reduced ex-
ceedingly ; and • pleatlfttl reapply was provided of
treatlace upon all branches of science at a very
low price, and composed in a manner so simple
sad clear as to convey the required impacted=
without the help of • teacher to such as reaßy
deitred it, sad maid take the trouble of obtaisieg It. Bet a
variety of other wake was likewise produced, the object of
which was to afford instruction In en entertaining or ama-
in form ; and the great circulation immediately obtained by
our works of the kind, proved that our endeavours had boon
attended with suers. But we next saw that a much wider
scope could be given to our operations, sad that easels whom
our larger philistines did not reach might be iodised to im-
prove themselves by reading. Beam arose the Army Mea
gain*, the happy suggestion of that eminent philanthropist
Kr. Hill, now Recorder of Blrminghom sad COCOMillioalll
Bankruptcy. The low price, the aindrable woodcuts, the
judicious Weida of subjects, at PM Instructive sad enter.
tam ing, speedily obtained for the papa a circulation till this
unprecedented, for at one time 220,000 were sold weekly.
The sale, indeed, may be supposed enormous, whoa minty
guineas could be afforded fns one plate, the impure*. from
• with two or three others lan fins, sad eight
pages of letter-peas, was sold for a pony to
the public, sosempeently much lees to the retail
dealer. It reembsi for oaken engaged in the muse good
work of pusetieg the improvement of the people in carry
this plea a slap Mbar, but a meet lapoiterst step, by pre-
win cheep periodical papas, wig each poportion of
works of &aka se shook( allanst proses wholly beat ups
miterMinment sad nab& without any dime. view to obtain
metal knowledge. The society's works, even the Amoy
liforuiter, bad never admitted writings of this descriptions
except conesionally a few lines of poetry. Now, It had been
found to be quits certain the. • vast proportica of readers re-
garded narrative se alone tatereader, end hues Idaery, and
especially biography, bad bees largely introduced into oar
publications; but it became also apparent that imaginary
adventures, souse rarely or never exhibited in reel We, lively
dmoription el heti puce mad thip Tweed from OUCUMICS

obsonetioa—la • wad, dories, whether et • memo* or et a
mere orahmery ehareeter, would Az the attention whisk
the most lateneting realities bed Med to arras,
tied thee thomends weuM reed tabs when
sothiag she esteld tempt to tales up • book.
Nur is this taste coalued to the humbler clam
of the commnally ; very tray alai& betters out with diffi-
culty be got to read say nehmen' of bets bored a pare-
'mph is • newspaper. Bat kin endeniebb that the remark
applies gmakurly to the peat members who has as se-
quined the hsbt d reading, sod who ere meet evens to may
such laterinelta of their Mira permits, or any intarlannoo
with their rest aid relaxation. It is to this does that sock
works a the Pb.., Hagedue, mad also papers in part at
least devoted Is wombs of tidies, sn priocipally addressed ;
to those who from their vertices lame oat little spare Use
which they cea esephey is maim disk horns of rehotatica
are apt to be spent either la Net or to penes, or in dindpr
!fall. It is to Ind employment be resift for them hewn,
and to provide sash weeks se may teed powerfully intermit,
that the groneet alkyls have testa made ; and experienes
ha proved &Mad: that • comidsrable pert of such
works must consiet of stories. Amerellngly penny
papers, petaled weekly, with geed eats, have hew
supplied; is, gat of the Ister-preis being stories, the teat
Wooded et hiegeephied sintshes sod bibrmatiaa in a
popdar kern apes eatisete d SCUM, and mt. The greatest
cam is teken to mob& from the namatives sad darriptioas
everything that smithy pmeibilay elder Wiens the pardons
or bench la the beet dorm upon allies sad semi prim-
cdpie. Hut thet is only • negative mail. The Afoot of the
whole, both ammothe and deariptivo, is to demble feelings
el • virtuous and misbis had, to inemioste the pawn morel
prineiples, end no bedew • split at piety sad donde% sad
men by the melons end the mom regemented don by mere
adobe end 11111111111118. Olean individual, Jahn Cassell, who
hoe tibia a Iran rm. golimps las boa Premboni Wet
to dose hairast posseedbp, it is It b mounts the mash
berm house himmit • werbag ma, roes by his iaittetry
boon • sent bendele elletien, les easatratty led
with the workbag cleases, mad has the moot camplene
beeldedge of their Wits mad their testes, boa
they nareatived blesemene with am. The variety
of the webs whisk he Ms peepered sad pabliehal is
very peat, and their eirealatien extreardimey. The prices
whisk he gime to maw the bat sembianse ol litesery man
and at artists do the pentad credit to his ilberelity, sad also
to hie good cones, ao his remarked* owns proves. Ho has
indeed mew glom seadderable sum by 'my of premien for
the geedablea of webs by esesgstition—la some ems
mud es one or two lambed poet& It eivaid be team
to 1111111111111 i• the various works width he sad um& odors
have beeeght mat upon this plea. The tent wididy oboe.
Ltd an the linden ieurnel, which mils 760,000; Gesseito