The Sun.
London, England, 1852-09-04 00:00:00

THE SUN,

THE MANCHESTER FREE
LIBR A RY.
On Thursday evening a crowded public meeting
was held in this institution to commemorate the
opening of the library, when the assemblage was ad-
dressed by several of the speakers at the morning
meeting.
Sir Joni POTTER, took the chair, and opened the
proceedings by calling upon Mr. Paul, secretary to
the Work'ing-men's Committee, to read a report which
they had prepared.
The Bishop of MANCHESTER was received with loud
cheers. He said—The resolution which I have been
called upon this evening to propose is—
" That ibis meeting bails with most cordial satisfac-
tion the establishment of the Manchester Free Library
in its two-fold character—as a library of reference and
as a lending library,"
lam sure I represent the feelings of the subscribers
of larger sums to this institution, when they wish their
gift to be considered not as a charity, but as a bond
of brotherly and friendly union—(Applause)—not as
a means offered to the lower classes of redeeming
themselves from an imaginary degradation, but as a
tribute of respect and sympathy to those nobler par-
ties among the lower classes whom they have
seen, and know, and loved, and taken to their
hearts in respect and in affection, as seeking to en-
noble, and to raise, and to dignify their class.—(Ap-
plause.) Whatever aid, encouragement, assistance,
and support, any imagined previous knowledge we
can have acquired. may at all afford to direct the
studies, to assist the researches, to aid and to encou-
rage the efforts of any person whatever to acquire
knowledge, shall, under God's blessing, never be
wanting on our part.—(Applause.) We would en-
deavour to make the home of the working man the
scene of peaceful study, quiet literary enjoyment, re-
finement, and elegance of mind; and if there be one
pleasure I have ever enjoyed, one privilege to which I
have felt I ever have been admitt ed, one aspiration
higher or holier with which it has pleased Providence
to gift me, from the pursuit and from the study of the
law,of ancient or modern times, that, in all its fal-
nes, and length, and breadth, and depth, and rich-
ness, would 1 seek to have conveyed to the inhabitant
of the lowliest cabin, to the tenant of the meanest
cellar in the diocese of Manchester and in the king-
dom at large.—(Loud applause.) But the resolution
with which I have been intrusted goes yet farther.
We are told—

" That this meeting desires to express its earnest
conviction that this institution will condec© in the high-
est degree to the intellectual and moral elevation of the
working classes."
Have we selfish motives ? proffer you no dogmas,
we present to you no opinions of our own ; we point
you to these walls, rich in literary treasures of past
ages and the present, and we invite you fairly and
freely to come for yourselves, seek for yourselves, in-
quire for yourselves, and humbly, earnestly, cau-
tiously, carefully, and prayerfully to judge for your-
selves.—(Cheers.) I do not hesitate to appeal to this
meeting to join with me in earnestly, sincerely, de-
terminedly, devotedly joining to sacrifice individual
feelings, and prejudices, and to determine, under
Providence, that we will never leave our efforts till
we have secured to our poorer brethren the means of
an unselfish, unbigoted system of education, in which
all may partake.—(Loud cheers.) You have no or-
dinary means of improvement. The liberality of one
of the inbabitants of Manchester has lately placed a
college among you, with instructors of the highest class
—men who are determined and willing as they are
able to do their duty. The task now remains for the
working people of Manchester to show how far they
will respond to the call made to them—how far they
will avail themselves of the opportunities afforded
them—how far they will be wanting to themselves or
not, and to their families. Make your homes what
they ought to be ; make your children what they
make, as far as in you lies, this coin-
ought to be ;
munity what it ought to be; what in many essential
points it already is, but what it may still further,
under God's blessing, become—your homes the
abodes of order, contentment, prayers, intellectual
and spiritual improvement—your children what they
ought to be, enabled to avail themselves of the un-
rivalled opportunities which this city affords, of rising
from the lowest to the highest stations—this great
community what it ought to be, a lesson to the whole
of England, which they may learn, and learn with
satisfaction, from that example which Salford began,
and which Manchester had been permitted so happily
and so successfully to follow. I have great pleasure
in moving the resolution.—(Loud cheers.)
The Right lion. the Earl of SIIAFTESBURY was the
next speaker. His greeting on the part of the audi-
deuce was a warm one. He said—l could very
much have wished that this evening should have
been devoted to hearing the opinions and statements
of some of the working people themselves; and that
we should not have been called upon to make set
speeches from this platform, talking only in general
terms, when we all might have been enlightened by
your minute and practical experience. But as it
has been thought fit to call upon us to say a few
words, I will obey the orders of your chairman, and
I will direct you to one or two observations; and 1
wish to make one practical observation upon a sub-
ject that seems now to be agitating many men's
minds. I allude to that which is called the division
of labour ; and I know there are many who maintain
the dogma laid down by Adam Smith, that the divi-
sion of labour is necessarily and progressively dete-
riorating to the human mind. I maintain, on the
contrary, that the division, ay, and the subdivision of
labour, sets free the human intellect, and gives to
those who would otherwise be occupied in a variety
of the intensest occupations, the means of educating
their minds, of directing their intellect, simultane-
ously with the division of the labour on which they
are engaged, to some of the most occult and the l
most
important subjects of consideration. The resolution
makes reference to the subject of lending libraries.l
'n
Depend upon it, the library of circulation, or
lending library, is the grand vital principle of
this night.—(Applause.) I am not going to speak
disparagement of the library of reference, bu
t I am
going to speak in peculiar admiration and effect of the
library of circulation ; and for this reason—because
it tends to pacify and maintain that which is the very
strength of a nation, the very glory of a people—
among all the ordinances of God, the most merciful
and the most amicable—the domestic system of the
country.—(Cheers.) And I hope that many a hus,.
band, and many a brother, availing himself of the
opportunity offered, will carry the book to his own
fireside, and make his wife and his children, or his
mother and his sister, partake of hie studies--
(Cheers)—and tend to elevate and purify the female
mind. Ido not wish to be giving you too much
counsel and advice, and presume to talk as if I were
speaking from the pulpit upon these matters. But I
have had much experience of the condition of the
working classes of these realms, not only in Lanca-
shire and Yorkshire, but in the rural districts and in
the vast metropolis of London, and I do not hesitate
to say that—ay—nine-tenths of the pauperism, nine-
tenths of the difficulties whereby they are beset, nine-
tenths of the woes that press upon them, are caused
by their own improvidence, are caused by their own
pernicious habits of intoxication.—(Loud applause.)
Depend upon it, it is in the power of the working
classes of these realms, thanks to recent legislation,
that has removed a variety of impediments, to
attain to a standard of physical prosperity not to be
surpassed even by the people of the United States.
Therefore, Ido hope that this may offer another in-
ducement to withdraw yourselves from the allure-
ments of the casino and the pothouse—(Cheers)—and
give yourselves to those pursuits that are suited to
your dignity as intellectual, as immortal, and as
Christian beings.
After a few words from Mr. THACICERAY,
The resolution was put to the vote and carried
unanimously.
Mr. BRIGHT, M.P., was received with the most
cordial and indefatigable cheering. He said, the se-
cond resolution, which has been placed in my hands, is
to this effect :
" That this meeting regards the subscriptions of up-
wards of 22,000 persons connected with warehouses,
factories, and workshops, in all parts of the borough,
as conclusive proof that the working classes feel a sin-
cere interest in the institution, and are prepared to bene-
fit by the advantages which it provides.'
It was my fortune to be present at the meeting this
morning, and I may say, without hesitation, having
attended as many public meetings as most men within
the last ten years, that I know no occasion or occa-
sions on which I have seen meetings more unanimous,
more hearty, and more thoroughly comprehending
and appreciating the object which had brought them
together, than the meeting this morning and the
meeting of this evening. The fact need not be con-
cealed, that during the last 20 years there has been
growing a power in this country that every day
speaks in a snore and more audible voice to the Govern-
ment; and, whoever be in office, we find almost an
equal deference to the plain 'and unmistakable ex•
pression of the public will
.—(leer(s.) Now, this is
the aspect which appears to almost the most im-
portant under which we can view this free library.
Nothing can prevent political power being more and
more spread among the people; but it is of great con-
sequence that in every man here, however humble his
position, or any other man out of this plance, as well
as the richest and the highest,—that wherever poli-
tical power is deposited, there should be wisdom and
virtue so to exercise it that this great country may
remain not only great, but may become every year,
and every generation, greater in all those things which
go to ennoble a State and to spread
permanent hap-
piness among a people.—(Cheers.) And zealous as
we all appear here to-night, let us not forget that
this is but one of many institutions that exist in this
town, and of thousands that exist through the county
—institutions of
a kindred character, appealing as
this does to general
here, regard as pp r ; and let us, who are
many others, to elevateau thire'sgtrrrueialltemntaasl istyo,f
oaulre gpopula-
tion,and to give to those •
who labour, not all the .el•