The Sun.
London, England, 1855-08-11 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, AUGUST 11, 1855.

ESTAI3LISHMENT OF. PEOPLE'S. LIBRA-
RIES IN THE RURAL DISTRICTS.

SPEECH OF 'LORD STANLEY, M.P.
HATFIELD (Hui's) • WEDNESDAY.
A public meeting was held in the Riding-school ACHat-
"field-house this evening, at which Lord -Stanley, M.P.,
who is at present the guest of the Marquis of SalisbnrY,
delivered. ,a lecture in support of the establishment, of a
people's library for the village of Ritfield and the surround-
ing districts. The attendance was numerous, and included
all the principal 'gentry of the neighbourhood, amongst;
whom the feeling is universally favonrable to the object
for which the meeting was convened.
The Marquis.of Samsßunvpresided, "and in opening the
proceedings said—Ladies and Gentlemen, the object for
which you are assembled is to promote an attempt which
is now being made in this county to • improve upon the
system of popular edibation, and my noble friend near
me, Lord Stanley, has been kind enough to tender his
services towards the attainment of this great and
important object. The question of education is one
that, for a considerable period, has commanded the
growing attention Of the country, and I believe that at
the present moment there are a sufficient number of
• schools established to give the rudiments of edecation in
most districts. •Much good has consequently been the result,
inasmuch as !the elements of a truly religious education
have been imparted to many who would otherwise have
been left entirely destitute of them, and education without
religion would be worse than no education at all. (Hear,
hear.) But a link has been wanting in the chain. After
the children have quitted school, they have had no oppor-
tunity afforded them of improving upon the knowledge
they acquired there, and with the cessation of their attend-
ance at school-has ceased the demand for education. All
who hear me are aware that of late years there has been a'
great improvement in the ability and intelligence displayed
by the children who have passed through our -wheels ;
but it must be equally obvious, that after entering upon
the active duties of life, they have little importunity,
especially in the rural districts, of cultivating their minds,
and that they then gradually relapse into that istate of
ignorance the existence of which is a matter so much to be
deplored. To the subject of popular-education ,the minds]
of the most able of our statesmen and philanthropists hav'e
'
long been directed, and many attempts have been made to
ensure its being Carried out to the fullest extent. From
various causes, however, all these attempts have failed, and
no meana -have yet been adopted for continuing the educa-
tion of the population between the period of their leaving
school .ind their growth to manhood. Now, one mode
which has Suggested itself to my noble friend, as a means
of furnishing that continued education to all who are in-
clined to improve themselves, is the establishment of free
libraries ; and at my request he has kindly consented to
appear before you on the present occasion. for the purpose
of pronitoting such an institution in this neighbourhood
He has made the attempt with very great success in several
districts. He has assisted in establishing a large library
at Oldham, another at Preston, and a third at King's Lynn,
the town which has the honour,of having.him as its repre-
sentative in Parliament.' I can only say that I thank him
for his presence here, and that I hope you will give your
warm and hearty support to the effort to form an institu-
tion of the sort in this county. This is the first instance
in which such an effort has been made in so purely a rural
district ; and in commencing at Hatfield I hope the move-
ment may spread throughout the whole country, and 'that
the example which you set to-night will be followed by
other 'districts ; and that my noble friend's exertions in the
cause vill not fail to meet their due reward. I will not de-
tain you further than to introduce to you my noble friend
Lord Stanley. (Cheers.)
Lord STANLEY then came forward, and said
Ladies and Gentleman,—You have heard the too flatter-
ing remarks ,of our chairman, Lord Salisbury, on'my ap-
pearance here, and as there is nothing more disagreeable
to any one of ordinary delicacy than even the semblance of
interfering in matters which do not concern one, I think it
only courteous to you, and due to myself, before entering
on the general object which we have met in this room
to talk over, to state in half-a-dozen words why and
how I come to stand here, to-night in the position of an
adviser in a county and part of England with which I have
no local connection. Lord Salisbury, always mindful of
the duties which property owes to society, and rightly
thinking that though Government may help in the work
of education, yet that work must in the main be carried
out by private efforts, had for some time past entertained
the design of endeavouring to supply" the educational re-
quirements of this neighbourhood on a scale and by an
agency more extended and effective than had hitherto been
employed. I mean by the establishment of a free, or
nearly free, popular library. Now, such institutions are
comparatively new to the rural districts of England. - In
Lancashire, however, and throughout the , manufacturing
districts, where the population is at once dense, enter-
prising, and wealthy, they have grown up' and flou-
rished to a great degree within the last few years. I
have had some little experience of such undertakings there;
and Lord Salisbury, therefore, did me the honour, when
this scheme was first mooted, of asking for such informa-
tion and counsel as I could offer upon some practical points.
I gave it to the best of my power ; and I was then requested
t 8 repeat in public, and to a larger audience, that which I
had previously stated in private to a few persons. Hence
this meeting, at which you will be pleased to remember
that I appear, not as being myself an actor in the work on
which you are engaged, but merely as a witness to speak of
that which I have seen elsewhere, and merely by desire of
Lord Salisbury. and of those who are associated with him
in this undertaking. Now, having said so much, let us see,
first what has been done in England up to the present time
in the way of providing instruction for grown persons ;
next, what are the practical advantages to the public of
such institutions ; thirdly, what are the difficulties to be
dealt with. and the prebabilitiee of success in this particu-
lar case. It is, I fear, only tbo easy to show that, in reg.“l-
- public libraries, England is far more backward than
many countries whose state of civilisation is lower. I take
the leading nations of Europe. Of libraries of the larger
class, containing above 10,000 volumes each, and open with
more or less freedom to the public :
France has 107, with 4,000,000 volumes.
Austria ... 48
Prussia ... 44
England ... 33
Of which 500,000 is in the single collection Of the Museum.
If I had included emaller,collections of from I,oooto 10,000
volumes, the result would have been much more unfavour-
able; but of these it is almost impossible to obtain ac-
curate returns. A fairer test is the following, as it shows
the amount of accommodation actually afforded to the
public in each country :
In Saxony, which stands at the head of the list, there
are for every 100 inhabitants
Denmark • - • 412
Bavaria 339
Tuscany (not the most enlightened state in Europe) 261
Prussia
Austria 167
France 129
Belgium
England and 'United Kingdom
Or, in regard of this particular kind.of educational prOvi-
sion,wehave jasto'ne-eighth the accommodation. of Saxony,
one-sixth that of Bavaria, one-third that of Austria, and
two-fifths that of France. In the United States the popu-
lation is scattered, distances are great, books are cheap,
most persons can afford to purchase on their own account,
yet already there are more than 100 libraries of 5,040
volumes and upwards, and scarcely a village without come-
thing of the kind on a smaller scale. Some steps, how-
ever, have been taken in England of late years. In 1849
a committee of the House of Commons was appointed,
which led to the passing of an act, authorising a local rate
for the maintenance of free libraries in corporate towns.
That act has been extended in the present session of Par-
liament, and so far as the Legislature is concerned every
populous parish, might now provide itself out of public
funds with a free library. But that power is not, in .the
present state of opinion among ratepayers, practically
available ; • and for many years to come, in small and rural
communities at least, the promoters of such designs will
have to appeal to voluntary exertions only. Now, what
have those exertions done up to the present time? Except
as connected with mechanics' institutes, or institutions of
a similar kind under different names, there are very few
public libraries open to all classes. Of mechanics' insti-'
tutes there are in existence been 800 and 900—I say
in existence, but the existence of many is little
more than nominal. ' Some do their work well and
prosper ; some more or less assume a party charac-
ter, as is always likely to happen where lectures are
delivered ; but the majority live from hand to mouth,
have no considerable stock of books, nor accumulated capi-
tal ; are, therefore, obliged to lay themselves out for popu-
larity, and in so doing, though their existence is on the
whole better than nothing, they do not adequately fulfil
their functions of public instruction. That is, in few
words, the state of adult education in Great Britain. It is
not a satisfactory one, and it promises to you, and to all
who are minded to help in the work of reforming it, occu-
pation for some considerable period. That work will not
be complete, the educational requirements of the nation
will not be fully satisfied, until the literature of our lan-
guage, the written thoughts and recorded acts of every
great man who influences opinion at the present day, shall
have been brought within easy access—easy both as regards
local proximity and pecuniary cost—of every man and of
every woman who can read and write. At this point I may
be asked, and it is an inquiry which I do not seek to evade
by vague generalities or declamation, " Is there any real
necessity for, any practical !utility in, such an educational
provision as you propose, and what are in definite terms the
benefits which you expect from it ?0' In' aniweringlhat
inquiry I am not going into a general panegyric of educa-
tion against ignorance; that would be pedantry fit only for
a school exercise, and unworthy of a meeting assembled for
a practical object. Only this single remark I will make and
then pass on. I think we put education on a low and
unworthy ground when we treat it, which many do, as a
Means of acquiring fortune or advancement in life. We
must all feel, if we reflect upon it (I am sure I do) that a
man's station in the world, the social position which he
occupies, forms a very small part of his real and true
existence. Society makes one man a peer, another a trades-
man,rd a labourer; but God made us allmen .; and
mean, or ought to mean, by education, is the de-
velopmentwhat we
ah
ti
of those common human faculties which we
possess, and which, possessing them, we are bound to cul-
tivate in ourselves, and to help others to do the same. So
far, I apprehend, we should all agree. The real difficulty
which many sensible persons feel, the moat plausible ex-
ception which is taken to such plans as we are now discus-
sing, turns, not on a doubt whether mental cultivation is
worth having, but on a doubt whether intg of books.canbea Bearttained
mwiatinnelyse orth aint algareamttrdyeignrg to ee, by
the reading
fairly, and to give full
weight to any arguments that may be' used in defence of
views contrary to my own. That is the real controversy
at issue. " How far are books, or the study of books,
valuable in forming character?' That they are not indis-
pensable, we all allow. Great characters have been formed
without them. The men who have been greatest in
action and thought have trained themselves with little
external aid ; and, on the other hand, we know men whose
book knowledge has been to them rather a hindrance than
'a help, who seem to have lived upon the thoughts of others
until they had become incapable of thinking on their own
account. But admitting such exceptions, and allowing
also that mere study without action cannot develop a com-
plete human character, there are circumstances in our na-
tional life and habits that render literary culture peculiarly
valuable to us. There is no fear of pedantry becoming na-
a unpaged in plead, The whole bunt of our mind» the

other way. . There is a love of action, a devotion to busi-
ness, an impatience of abstract pui suits, a dislike to occu-
pations which do-not bring some immediate visible return,
which is perhaps excessive, and certainly strong enough .to
counteract any tendency *towards mere bookishness.
,That
we All recognise and feel. But there-is something more.
Life, in the present, day, is busier than ever: before.. Take
affehissiei through, you find more work; less leisire. That
state of-things is not our fault ; individuals are not to blame
for It, law cannot alter it. Custom and competition press
IA all on alike. With 'a very few reldeptions we are all
absorbed, in our special pursuit. The lawyer who wants to
-lead'his circuit, the politician who wants to lead the House
of Commons, must be a lawyer or a. politician exclu-
sively. With the merchant, with the tradesman, with‘the
srtizan, it is the same. Most men—at least, most success-
ful men—live for their work alone, and have few interests
or ideas unconnected with it. The result of that state of
things is,-to put it in one sentence, that general develop-
ment is sacrificed- to particular aptitude. The man is
-trained—l speak of all classes equally—not to be a com-
plete man, but to be a tool in the mostperfect state of effi-
ciencY for the performance of a particular kind of .work.
That is in error ; and the best remedy for it—one no doubt
imperfect, but still preferable to any other. that We .can
find--into counteract this partial and imperfect teaching
by a large acquaintance with human lice, and thought in
all its varieties—a kind of knowledge which, as regards
the mass of men, can be given only through books. There
is yet ayther reason why I think book; teaching more vaL
Jumble in this country than in any other. We in England
are in the habit of boasting of our freedom of speech ; -and
'no doubt, so far as legal -and political restraints are con-
•cerned, that freedom exists; but any' one who has com-
pared the social habits of this natirm • with those of
any other, I care not in what class, rent have -observed
that whether from temperament or mere custom,
there is a reserve, a constraint,' a', reluctance,. even
among friends, to exchange thoughts freely on ques-
tions of real and deep intereit, whibh causes us to learn
less' from one anothir than we might. ].believe that ideas
are less freely circulated by word of mouth in England than
in, any other free and equally civilised community. If
that be so, the watt or the deficiency, of that teaching (for
snob it is) which really thoughtful human speech supplies,
furnishez another argument for the diffusion of literature
.as that channel through which knowlsdr,n3- is most practi-
cally and usefully Accessible. -There is ono single observa-
tion further which I would make before I leave this

part of the subject. The want of educational faoilities for

`graivn persons: the popular delusion, for it is one, that
odueation ends in boyhood, affects injuriously our system of
school-teaching. It leads to one of two results, both bad,
and which is worse Ido not pretend to decide. In one
case whey thinks, or his parents think for him, that he will
have nothing to do with books when he groivs.up, and why
should he trouble himself about them now? In that case he
learns nothing. Otherwise, and perhaps that is qiiite as
common a result, the parent's idea is—"WhatOver instruc-
tion my son is to get, he must get before he leaves school;
therefore he ought now to learn a little of everything."
And so, 'without regard to mental or physical. laws, an
attempt is made to force nature—to crow.d into half a
dozen years what should be the business. of a
the child is crammed and stuffed with knowledge— the,
man is stared. So far we have regarded only the educa-
tional side of the subject; but it has also. a social aspect.
It will not be affirmed that in this country there is any
want of liberality or of public spirit. Such would be an
unfounded imputation. But it is certain that from :what-
ever cause, partly from reserved and domestic 'habits—
partly from that devotion to business whiCh absorbs most
of us, and creates an indifference to other matters—partly
also from the great and rapid inorease of population in
these islands'within the last half century, so rapid that the
Appliances of civilisation have not kept pace with our mate-
rial development—be the cause what it may, there lia want
in England of pursuits and pleasures which are common
to all, of institutions open-to all, of places which all may
frequent for recreation or amusement. That is aiericius so-
cial evil. Every park or garden which you throw open, every
museum or picture gallery to which you admit.the public,
is a clear gain to society, not only in the pleasure which it
creates, and the consequent feeling of content' which it
causes, but also in the recognition which such an act in-
volves of a cortunon citizenship, and in the pledge which
it seems to givoon the part of the wealthy to the poorer
sort, that the wealth which these see.round them is used
not selfishly, but that they also share in the conveniences
and advantages which it can purchase. And sO;With these
libraries. Apart from their educational value—apart from
the pleasure which they will confer, they will hold out to
every one who, though poor, aspires to rise, and, though
untaught, desires( to learn—and there is not in England a
village but contains some such—they will hold out, I say,
to every such person a practical and conclusive proof that
those who have been more fortunate in the accidents of

life, and who stand on a higher intellectual level, are nut
withheld by selfish indifference, or by a still more un-
worthy jealousy, from aiding, so far as they can, his ad-
van6e, and saving him from that most painful of all suffer-
ings—the sense of 'undeveloped faculties, and the conscious-
ness of unrecognised talent. I now come to the third and

concluding pair-t
of this question, and assuming that which
you propose is desirable, let me see whether, under all cir-
cumstances of the case, it appears practically possible, and
if so, by what means it should be accomplished. Is it in our
power to place virtually within reach of all, rich or poor,
within the limits of this town and its immediate neighbour-
hood, the principal literary resources of their own language?
I think it is. But before coming to that conclusiou we must
examine fairly to see what obs t acles lie in the way. And when
I speak of obstacles believe me that I have no wishtolover-
look or deny their existence. lam not arguing for a Cause,
not contending for victory. Yam trying to consider, and
asking you to consider with me, the means which may be
actually at hand for the attainment of a practical object.
And for that investigation the first requisite is accurately
to number and measure the difficulties which We have to
face. I class them 'ender three heads. There is, first, the
difficulty of obtaining funds with which- to establish the
institution proposed. Next, the difficulty of obtaining
for it, when established, a sufficient popular support among
the class by whom it, is to be used. Thirdly, the difficulty
of so selecting the works to be used as to answer the edu-
cational end in view, yet give just cause of offbnce 'to no
one. On the first, question of funds, I shall bc very brief.
It is a matter on which you are the best judges, and the
decision of which retts:With you. I will only state what,
so far as my experience has gone, is the cost of founding a
free library, on suoli it scale as to make it worth the pains
and labour bestowed on its establishment. When at-
tempting such an undertaking in a locality which is
not populous, it is necessary at once to Ascertain what is
the smallest scale and what the minimum amount on which

it can be done. Whatever you can add to that is so much
clear gain; but that minimum ought, in the first instance,
to be ascertained. And the rule which I would lay down
is this—that you ought to be able to include'most of the'
leading authors who have written on any important sub-
ject in the English language. No doubt there is great
vagueness in these words ; and the number of volumes
which you must assume as necessary, and in the inability
to obtain which you will not proceed, is arbitrary also. I
assume it at 1,500 volumes. Now, when I mention that
number, many persons ask—and, indeed, with some minds
it is the chief obstacle to works of this-description—" How
is it possible, in so narrow a compass, to convey even the
most imperfect idea of what the great men of ages have
done and written They think that if any attempt is
made tnplace literature before the people, it should be on
'a great scale, and that being impossible, that the thing is
not worth doing. Now, in that view there , is something
exaggerated, if'not actually unsound. The great writers
of the world, and the great events of the world, are really
very few. We all know that the mass of what is called
literature, poured forth by the press, is almost incal-
culable in •quantity, and that quantity is continually
increasing. The British Museum aline •contains half a
million ,of books ; the National Libray of Paris 'nearly
a million. But when you , come to analyse the matter
you will find, that of all that vast mass of books which
has been heaped together since the World began, a very
small proportion are available for dose purposes with
which alone you have to do—purposes of general instrue-
tion and study. Let us look into this for a moment.
There is one large class of works whose interest is merely
local ; there is another which relates exclusively to the
practice of particular professions. Both-these classes, with
a few exceptions, are excluded.
Aida, there has at all
times heen,and never, snore than no , a mass of writings
manufactured for the market—put together to meet some
want or fancy of the moment ; hooks which are destined,
and which even their writers know to be destined, to a
merely ephemeral existence : those you strike out, of
course. Lastly, there is yet another clsss, far more numer-'
ous than all of these put together, including I suppose
one half Of all that has ever been written—l mean books
which have been useful, which have done good service in
their time, some of which at the moment when they ap-
peared may even have advanced himan knoWledge, but
which being now superseded by more recent ideas, and
by a more complete and exact science, have retained no
interest or value except to antiquaries. Exclude all these
—exclude all that is merely local, merely professional,
that is ephemeral and worthless or antiquated and obso-
lete, and you will have reduced the total amount, I do
not say 'of literature, but of that literature which lives in
and influences men's , Minds at • the present day within
a very narrow compass. For :what is it, after all, that you
want men to know ? The'annals of the most important
nations—the personal records of the most eminent men
that have appeared on the earth—the arguments used in
those great controversies which have divided human
thought in all ages—the elementary principles,- at least, on
which scientific and artistic labours are based, and those
studies of life and character which poetry and fiction sup-
ply. I am not speaking at random, but from some former
consideration and inquiry into this matter, when I state,
that for purposes of general reading, excluding authorship,
professional objects, or antiquarian research, -a collection
of 5,000 or 6,000 volumes will contain all that is essential.
That is here beyond your reach ; but even one-third or
one-fourth' part of that is a public benefit not to be de-
spised. Now, here. I must beg you to pardon a few 'words
of rather minute detail, because it is just in minutiae that
a plan is apt to 'break down. I have assumed the number
of books which you will require at 1,500. Of these you,
may reckon the average cast as 4s. per volume, five to
the pound, making an expenditure of 3001. 'There will be
some slight cost in fitting up a room, and it is well to
have in, hand a reserve equal to at least one year's subscrip-
tion ' • and I would therefore suggest that you should
take4ool., or at the very lowest 350/., as the sum which
if you fail to obtain—within a definite period (say six'
months) it will not be worth while to proceed. If there
really is not interest enough felt in the design to provide so
small an amount, it is far better to look that state of
things in the face, to postpone the undertaking as hopeless
,for the time, and by'so doing to leave the ground clear for
those who may be more fortunate hereafter, than to set up
a thing which will have been a
which nobody will take an
aocfc'onnt is likely to die out for
failure from the first,
tfhwonailtal be merely a hindrance and an
interestw whichan ton foi ,
which
ou dpyp w ir t
solinned
impediment in the way of more successful operations at some
future time. However, of that contingency there can be
little risk, if a rumour be true which has reached me, that
already, with no canvass and but little publicity, the pro-
moters have secured half the amount required. Next we
have to deal with a net less material question—" What de-
gree of popular support have you a right to expect ?" 'Here,
of coarse, I must speak without the confidence of absolute
certainty, because (and this it is which gives its chief value
to the experiment on which you are engaged)—because in
a community wholly or chiefly agricultural the trial has
scarcely yet been made. But taking, as before, an
arbitrary 1=9,1 think theiFonio on which you ought

to be able to count should not be less than one-
tenth of the;capi
merit you have to steer between two opposite extremes. On
the 'o7o3Vand, the subscriber Ought to feel that he itentit re-
ceiYing a gift, but contributing, in part at least, to Main-
tal sukeribecl-40/. Infixing a rate of pay-
tain" the institution by which he benefits;" on the Other
hand; wages are low , the laboairieg class, and even many
aboye that class, have little to spare, pd your object is, as
far as pensible, to exclude no oneli 'ln towns we have usually
fixed the rate at la. quarterly, or 4s. rarly. It is quite a
local question, on which I offer no opinion—whether even,
lower terms avill:euit you better, or whether under any cir-
cumstances, and, if so, under, what, admissions should be
free ? At. 4s. you will require '2OO subscribers'; at 28. 400.
The only principle which one can lay down in such a matter
is, that the income should cover all current expenses, and
that arifar as possible it, should be made up, not by wealthy
persons out of charity, but by those who really use the
library. A good deal depends on the extent of area
which you embrace.- You have not here a concentrated
population, and you have within a, moderate distance at
least. two towns, St. Alban's and.Hertford, in which I am
mistaken if the example which yet; are setting willmot be
followed very shortly. You can reckon, therefore, for
this particnlar . enterprise only on • seal an. area 'as will
contain some 10,000 or 12,000 .persons; that is, from
1.16 th to 1.14 th the 'entire 'population 'of 'the county.
Making large allowances for all who will notorcatinothelp
-*---for 'those who cannot read, for those who have at home. all
the books they require, for those who 'are too buoy or too
idle, for those. who are too rich to want a public library or
too poot to pay for one, fOr the very young or the very
old, it is not unreasonable to assume that lin 50 of the re-
sident population will even feom the first become sub-
scribers—that is, something like 200 in the one case, 250 in
the other. lam speaking of what you may; expect at; first,
before people's minds have become familiarised with what
you are doing; later you may count on a large increase,
and I am purposely, out of a caution which is perhaps ex-
treme, adopting a lower estimate than experience else-
where Would justify. I will not waste time in citing at
any length the example of what has been done elsewhere,
but just mention the position of three institutions with
which I have been myself connected. Two of them were
set Up in Lancashire towns, of no large size, containing a
population chiefly of artisans and small tradesmen, with
but few resident gentry ; in one case party spirit ran
high at the time ; in both cases a large proportion of the
labouring class were Irish, unable to read or write, and
from whom no help could be expected. , We had this
further disadvantage, that within a few miles cheap
and popular libraries already existed, from which it
was possible, though not convenient, for those who wished
it to supply themselves. In each instance the size of the
undertaking was much the same as it is here ; the rate of
subscription fixed was 4s. At the end of 18 months, neither
undertakinglias had a longer trial, the results were as fol-
low :—ln one case, the subscribers were to the population
as 1 in 30; in the other, where a larger area was takenin,
as 1 in 35. Again, in Lynn, Norfolk; with a population' of
20,000, in the centre of a purely agricultural district,where
no attempt of this kind had ever been made before, we
have, after 8 months opening, 800 subscribers, or 1 in 25.
Now, I think I have allowed enough' for the difference be-
tween an urban and a rural population in regard to these
matters, when I set down as an estimate, a sufficient and
satisfactoryestimate, just one-half the -proportion which
exists in this last instance, and two-thirds that which•ex-
.ists in the other two. I have given you the data on which
',rest, and I think they justify me in. affirming, as I do
with confidence, that so far as it is possible to predict
the future from the past, and so far as you can judge
of one part of • the country by that which has taken
place in another, you have" in regard of popular
support for your undertaking, not a chance only,
but what amounts to a certainty of success.
One word only as to the third difficulty which I
have named—that which relates to the selection of books.
You have begun here on the principle, the only one that
ever can or will work, of acknowledging no distinction of
political party or, religions sect. That is a sound principle,
but the application of it is apt to involve a practical in-
convenience. If you were to declare, by way of guarding
against the risk of quarrels, that you would absolutely
exclude every work that bears on religion or on the'science
of government, you would shut out thereby the most im-
portant branches 'of human thought, and greatly impair
the utility of your work. Nay, even if you lay 'down that
rule you cannet'enforce it in spirit, though to the letter
you may ; for the recorded annals of every nation—that
is, all historical works in existence—are, in fact, illustra-
tions of political science, and it is from being such that they
!derive their sole value. So again with individuals--a man's
public life, and still more his religion, are integral parts of
himself ; they mould his character and influence his career;
and thus into biography, as well as history, the political and
roligious element must to a certain extent enter. But you
cannot shut out history and biography ; that would be
absurd ; and it follows, therefore, that a library meant"to
instruct as well as to amuse must contain many works
bearing in some degree on those great controverted topics—
the relations of the individual to the state as a citizen, and
his relations as a man to a Higher Power. The only rule
.one can lay down on paper is to have nothing 'to do 'with
merely controversial writings on the political or polemical
disputes of our .own time, and generally to exclude that
which may be expected to give offence to reasonable and
moderate persons. But, after all, your only security in this
,matter lies in the good sense of individual managers, and in
their sincere wish that the work may succeed. Every man
;who co-operates with others in any department of human
lsuiiiness, from the making of a Cabinet downwards, must
sacrifice something of his own wishes ; and though in some
parte of England institutions such as you propose are nu-
merous, yet the instances are .most rare, I cannot now re-
collect one, 'Where an attempt of the kind has failed in con-
sequence of the inability of 'the managers to agree is to
what they should include, or strike out. I think, then,
that from thee Once 'obstacles- to which I alluded just
now—want of funds, want of popular support, and risk
of disrinion—you have no cause to apprehend failure
or even delay. No doubt there. are many matters re-
lating to the working of such institutions—their con-
rtitution, management," and the mechanism required to
parry them out—which' need and will receive careful cen-
eideeation. But, though not to be overlooked, these topics
ire'minute, and it is needless to mention them here: But,
r'
erhaps, before I sit down I may ask you for a moment to
ook beyond the details of this local and comparatively
mited enterprise, and to regard it—l cannot help doing
so-as only the first stone of a building destined hereafter
to assume much larger proportions—as the experimental
trial on a small scale of that which is to be carried out on
One more comprehensiie. What is the object for which
you are working—for which we .all work, each in our re-
4pective localities? Why this—that to every man within
this country of England the literature of the nation shall
be made accessible, with;the least amount of cost or trouble,
at his'own home, That is the. end, you have in view, or
Tether that is in all its completeness the machinery by
ivhich, yon seek to attain an end more lofty and more re-
mote. Now, take this county of Hertford. What is there
to prevent within a few years from this time such educa-
tional provision being made for the entire county as you
desire and as I describe ? Consider your position. Yon
Dave great social and material advantages—a compact area;
e population not now scattered, and rapidly increasing ;
vicinity to the greatest city of the world • all those means
Of easy and rapid communication which we owe to
Modern science ; above all, you have a wealthy and
iesident gentry, enlightened themselves, and accustomed,
to co-operate for objects of social utility. You have seme-
thing better and worthier still—for of a province, as of an
dmpire, the great names are the choicest .possession—a soil
illustrated by noble memories and adorned by living genius.
A name more illustrious still. I know not where the plea
df intellectual progress should arouse readier response or
draw forth 'a warmer sympathy than in'that county which
was once the abode of Bacon. Education is the social pro-
blem of our day, and where the wise settlement of a vexed
"controversy is.ealled for, I think there are few among
Modern public men who will challenge pomparison with
lie fame of Burleigh. There is one whom we could have
ished to see here to-day ; but though not with us the cause
of popular literature has been championed by the lifelong
advocacy and the rare eloquence of your own Sir E. Lytton.
sTell, to come to details, what is it that you require to
_. pply a complete educational provision for this county ?
our population falls short of 170,000 ; and we have seen,
by the analogy of what is here proposed, that from 12 to
15 such libraries would leave no district unsupplied. With
that number there need be no Hertfordshire man who could
not obtain those facilities of reading which at present exist
oily in towns. There exists a machinery in Lancashire (I
have left the details of its working in the hands of some
persons here) by which books are, sent round in boxes from
vill4ge to village; and almost from house to house, so that
there shall not be even the necessity of walking a few
nliles to 'fetch theni.. Some mechanism of that kind is ne-
cessary, if you are really to circulate literatufe among the
pborer class. From 12 to 15 libraries like that which is
tol) be set 'up here—their collectivb cost not exceeding
6,oool.—with boxes, circulating in the intermediate ham-
lets, will furnish all that is required. In the towns you
will have theassistance of a rate, which may even now be
lelvied, for the purchase and support of free libraries.
'Alt I ani retkonifik Merely' on private voluntary exer-
t' ns, and I state ray sincere belief that 5,000/.-or 6,0001.
sc.
a d each promoted by those whomt most immediately
i
i vielystefdornii
in
nsgucpharrodfertoankiengs as
schemethebse—ut n.thalslepnaraecetes:
a d locally concerns—would go further in the stimulus
aid encouragement which it would give to education
among the people than twice that sum spent on schools
aid 'schoolmasters. I have said before, bat once again I
repeat it, ,what you want is not so much to supply schools
, asi, to create 'a demand for schools • that done, they will
supply themselves. I have laid before you a large project
—Urge, not so much in the actual amount of expenditure
which it involves, as in the labour, the discussion, the op-
position of various kinds to which its execution must give
ie. e. No doubt I shall be. told there are obstacles in the
w an Nei' doubt it'is so, and 'itellitlilionld be.' There will
b . difficulties vuough, to elisoourege the timid, to disgust
the impatient end hasty,,and to give all of you that work
to' do—'work for your neighbours, 'work for England, work
for the interests. of ,mankied, which is one of the best
privileges and highest purposes of all our lives. It is
well, I ' sat that Tenth' obstacles 'exist: What is easily
done is seldom worth doing"; anti in this matter of educe,-
ticin we and tkPt. to- be •partioularly impatient of delay,
b4auser in measuring the amount of results which we ex-
peet we think only of our present activity and forget our
past supineness, Recollect how recent the whole move-
mentis. Recollect - that its origin dates back only some
thirty years and that during a part even of that time it
met with aeleast as much opposition as support. Look at
these things, and pronounce whether it is more reasonable
to complain that one generation has not yet succeeded
in ;repairing the errors of all its predecessors, or to con-
gr4tulate ourselves (though more remains to do) that
so much' has already been accomplished. We are apt
in this matter to be somewhat childish. There are
critics of educational operations who complain as un-
reasonably as some critics of military operations have
dote lately. Ignorance—brute, dull, dogged ignorance
—has fin immense power of passive resistance. We
have neglected it for centuries—we have let it alone—w,e,
have allowed it to go on and gain strength, and fortify itself
befere,our eyes to ell almost impregiieble power ; and thuomn,
beciuse this Sebastopol, doeo.not surrender at the firestre.a;
mobs, or tumble down at the first shot fired, we are
seespectfully,
is folly. What I would say to you, humbly, 1
t little; work
to despair, and cry out that our labours are u I
but earnestly, is this—" Do much ;,, Jr
em: result may be
with perseverance ; wait in patience.
it is probable that
nearer or more remote than we tli4ank
n'
;witnel3ll its it'll P•C•
That
no eye now opened on the world