The Sun.
London, England, 1855-04-07 00:00:00

MR. LAYARD'S INSTALLATION AT
ABERDEEAr.

ABERDEEN, THURSDAY AFTERNOON,
Mr. Layard, Lord Rector of Marischal College and
University, was installed this afternoon, in the presence
of one of the most distinguished assemblages evergathered
within the magnificent public ball of the new buildings.
At 12 o'clock, the Lord Provost, magistrates and coun-
cil of the city were conducted to the platform, followed.
by the Principal of the College, accompanied by Mr.
Layard in his robe of office, and attended by Sir Andrew
Hay, Sir John Ogilvie, assessors, and all the professors
of the University, in procession. Mr. Layard was
cre-
ceived with great applause on entering the hall, and
hailed by the students with enthusiasm.
The Very Rev. Principal DEWAR constituted the meet-
ing by prayer, and Dr. CEUIcKsHANS, Secretary to
College and University, administered the oath of office.
Mr. LAYARD then stood forward to address the audi-
ence, and was received with prolonged applause.teir power to
Invest-
ed with the highest dignity whi-ch it was in h
bestow, honoured with shelr confidence, and welcomed
with a generous synspathy that almost overpowered him,
he was more than at aloes toaed beenrdeep xp esshis sense of the
laid by his election
obligation under which he had
to the high office of Lord Rector of that ancient and
honourable university. To all of them he was personally
unknown ; for the first time he had that day visited
their renowned city—yea, he might almost say for the
first time he had crossed their borders. He must owe
proud position he held to other than personal reasons,
the
and he would fain hope, and indeed did believe, that it was
because they had faith in his honesty and integrity of pur-
pose.—because they would mark their approval of the
Course which, as a public man, he had pursued, and
would encourage him to persevere in it, and becausethey
ware of opinion that his labours in another and scarcely
less arduous field had not been attended with unsuccess-
ful results, that they had been led to confer upon him
the distinguished honour be enjoyed that day.
(Applause.) He did feel most deeply grateful for this
honour. They little knew how much a public man, situ-
ated as he was, stood in need of such proofs of approba-
tion and encouragement—how grateful they were to him,
and for how many painful struggles and hitter hours
they afforded a more than entire compensation. (Cheers.)
These honours, too, were valuable, because they made
many a man feel that, whatever his abilities might be, if
he pursued with honesty and straightforwardness the
path of duty, without turning to the right or the left—
neither intimidated by menace nor seduced by bribes—
his countrymen were ready to cheer him onwards in his
arduous and too often painful task. (Cheers.) He could
not help remarking that these were no ordinary times
when they had done him the great honour to select him
to fill the important office be then held. He could not
but look upon his election at. such a crisis as that in which
the country was placed as more than commonly signifi-
cant. He could not otherwise reconcile himself to the fact
of his name having been brought forward in opposition
to that of a gentleman cf such high standing and such
remarkable acquirements as their late Lord Rector, to
whose courtesy and kindly feeling to himself during the
late contest he could most cheerfully bear testimony ;
and therefore he felt that he must, look forward to duties
and responsibilities as likely to devolve upon him, re-
garding the great interests of the country as well as the
local interests of the college, which it would be his aim
faithfully to discharge. (Cheers.) After referring in
very eloquent terms to the talents and acquirements of
his more immediate pradecessors, Mr. Layard proceeded
to say that education--practical education—was the
great question of the day. "This subject," he said,
"I firmly believe to be one of the utmost importance at
this moment—one well deserving the thoughtful and
earnest consideration of every one truly anxious for
the welfare of his country, jealous of her renown, and
trembling lest, unhappily, she should fall from her an-
cient greatness. It is only when great emergenciesa.rise
that nations, as well as individuals, know what is re-
quired of them, and what they are capable of effecting.
Such an emergency—one almost unparalleled in the his-
t3ry of our country—has arisen. We are engaged in a
great war, after a long peace. It is, perhaps, well for
us that the emergency has occurred before it is too late
to meet it. No impartial man will venture to assert
that we have not been found wanting. The reputation
of this great empire has, to a certain extent, been tar-
nished; and its high estate among the nations of the
earth has been shaken. In a moment of national diffi-
culty and danger we have been found unequal to the
duties which are imposed upon us. To account for so
great a calamity—for calamity it undoubtedly is—we
musi seek for the evil at home. While we have undoubt-
edly to deplore as the cause of enormous evils the
reckless manner in which merit is overlooked in public
employments, and is passed over to satisfy private and
party interests and influences—a subject upon which
I do not wish to dwell I believe that among,
the most prominent and immediate causes of our misfor-
tune, will be found the defective condition of our system
of national or State education. It may seem strange
that I should venture to make such an assertion in the
middle of the 19th century, when I may be reminded
that at no period of our history has education been more
general, or been brought more within the reach of all
classes. But a vicious application of the very best prin-
ciple may be the cause of as much evil as its right ap-
plication would be of good. After all, the test of na-
tional education must be its result upon the national
character and upon the condition of the people. Unless
that result be to raise us as a nation—to make us more
wise, more honest, more capable of filling that station
which Providence assigns to a truly civilised and edu-
cated people—national education is of little comparative
value. If our educational system should tend rather to
enervate than to strengthen the mind—if we should find
that the intellectual powers with which God has endowed
us are rather paralysed than brought into full vigour—
if it should appear that it rather favours error than en-
courages truth—surely we may, well infer that there is
something essentially wrong in that system. I fear there
is too much reason to suspect that the evils to which I
have alluded have already, to a certain extent, ensued,
and that they may extend still further. I believe that
our present system of education is rather directed to
the overcharging of the memory than to the true culti-
vation of the intellect and strengthening and discipline
of the mind—that it is leading us t• treat men as
mere machines, rather than as reflective responsible
beings. Now, there never had been a stronger desire
to promote education everywhere than at present, and
much, very much, had been done to promote it both in
England and Scotland of late years, but though it had
been shown that the number of youths under education
had increased, there was reason to fear that the quality
had not kept pace with the quantity enjoyed. If they
did too much to educate the memory and too little to
educate the judgment, they would cramp the mind • and
if the mind were to be cramped by the mere acquisition
of isolated facts it would be as effectually injured as by
ignorance. He had seen in public examinations of
schools in England much readiness displayed by children,
which, on closer examination, turned out to be mere
feats of memory, mere tricks, enabling the children to
alums- difficult questions, but which, unconnected with
any logical process of the reason, when once forgotten, left them in their original state of ignorance. The end
therefore, of education had not in these cases been at-
tained. Against this he warned them. He did not say it
WitiA generally characteristic of our system of public edu-
cation, but he feared it was too commonly so, and where
it did prevail he felt that even self-instruction was on
many accounts to be preferred to it. They generally
found that great writers, great inventors, great thinkers,
and great public benefactors had been men who had
struggled against overwhelming difficulties, and had
to rely entirely on themselves to form their own
characters and to educate their own minds ; and it was
such a system of education as would stimulate those
qualities of the mind which led to self-reliance which
he desiderated as the great want of the present age.
This was the great defect of modern education, and had
perhaps more than anythiug else led to that system of
"red-tapism" and "routine"—that blind and unreason-
ing adherence to mere form and rule--through which
menhad become as it were parts of a machine, instead
offree, intelligent, reasoning, and practical beings. If
this system was carried out to the extent which some
seemed to desire, there was no despotism the world
ever saw could be so terrible in its consequences upon
the human mind and upon the character of a nation.
(Cheers.) The best and most general system of educa-
tion would he of no avail against it. A man might have
the powers of a giant, while he could not do the work
h
of a dwarf." (Cheers.) The on. gentleman continued—
"We have received a terriblewarning. Let it not be
thrown away upon us. Day after day have I of late
listened, as a member of the committee appointed to
inquire-into the condition of our a
to the most sickening and heartrending in the Crimea,
tale that human
hat
ot of
aufferice ever furnished—one too calculatedmuchhhot
lower us not only in our own estimation,
the world. I cannot allude to it without a glow of in-
dignation and a blush of shame. To what are we to attri-
bute
the grievous misfortunes
te which it discloses ? Are
Englishmen leas ne less generous, less
intelligent, less fruitful in
humane,
te enterprise, or
Surely not; we see n m resources than. they once were ?
in the relations of private
ovaproof of it in private
plunged into this abysste life. How, then, have we been
with our immense rercaonfti
have our stores mis •experience,
national disgrace ? Why,
ea means and
.av
countrymen been allowed to die unattended
have our brave
for ? Why have our gallant
goal jinattended and uncarect
from want and by the sword, in soldiers
been left to perish
It of common pre-
cautions ? Why have the unparalleled resources of this
v:rzeinthle
slttaitse
great country-been put forth almost '
cause men who engage in the servicinem
taught to look upon themselves as bare;
rather as forming parts of a machine, and Anachines, or
true sense of individual responsibility—becauosenot feela,
system enables them to shelter themselves behinadvier-
forms—because they can shift from their own coesciee snore
a burden which, it would appear to me, it would be es
in-
tolerable to a sensitive and right-feeling man to bear,unless he could persuade himself that his own free action
and independence were completely controlled. If these
be not the reasons, why have a few generous and noble-
hearted men—and wemen, too—who have faced dangers,
dared disease, taken upon themselves responsibilities,
relied upon their own exertions, not upon rules—how
have they, I ask, with slender means, despite frequently
of discouragement and opposition, awl entirely without
Government support, alleviated the sufferings and saved
the lives of thousands of our unhappy countrymen ?" I
have said that the true object of history is to teach na-
tions their responsibilities, and to be a warning to such
as would forget those great principles which must guide
communities as well as individuals. This is equally the
main object of all those studies and pursuits which are
connected with history, otherwise they would be, to a
great extent, idle and profitless. The antiquary, who
toils to trace the relics of a past civilisation, and to in-
trestigate ancient manners, or who digs into the bosom
of the earth to seek the remains of long-lost empires, and
the numismat who collects and decyphers the coins of
OZtinct dynasties, are little better than the school-boy