The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-25 00:00:00

Extra Parliamentary Utterances,

ADDERLEY AND VISCOUNT INGESTRE.
The Right Hon. C. B. Adderley and Viscount
Ingestre, the members for North Staffordshire, at-
te ceded a soiree in aid of the Literary and Mechanics'
Itistitution at Leek on Friday evening. Lord
Ii gestre presided.
In the course of his opening speech the Ca-UR-
-MAN alluded to the fact of very few members of the
working classes appearing to be among the audience,
which he regretted, because he thought it was of
great importance that mechanics should have the
benefit of institutions of that kind, The great ques-
tion of the present day in regard to such institu-
tions was how to combine instruction with amuse-
ment. He had the honour to belong to institutions
called clubs, where the members had social inter-
course, the beat libraries, and every sort of luxury,
and he thought that kind of institutions should be
extended, so a 3 to become a counter attraction to
the publichouse, and induce the working classes to
avoid publiehouses, which he looked upon as grow-
ing evils. He should be the last man in the world
to say that the working man should not have re-
freshment ; he liked a glass of wine himself, and
he did not see why the poor man should not have
his glass of beer; but he should like to see some
means devised by which the workman could spend
his evenings in a rational way, instead of sitting in
a publichouse. Ho could conceive that men who
had been hard at work all day liked relaxation and
to meet their friends in the evening, and he could
not see why they should not do so, but the great
thing was to teach the mechanic how to indulge in
moderation. When they looked at the extraordi-
nary amount they paid for the punishment of crime
and the maintenance of lunatic asylums, they might
well feel surprised that the country should not take
means to accomplish something in this respect. But
the Chancellor of the Exchequer dared not look at
the ouestion, because he could not see how he
could raise his revenue if he were to dispose of
what prcceeded from the sale of alcoholic drinks.
Perhaps that subject he ought not to have touched
upon on such an occasion, but when he came
to a mechanics' institution, and did not see mechanics
there, he could not help thinking that they were
somewhere, and he could readily guess where. His
lordship suggested singing classes, entertainments,
and other modes of recreation as means of making
institutions of that kind attractive to the working
classes, and concluded by calling upon
Mr. ADDERLEY, who, after some remarks on the
position of the institution, said—To an institution
like that what could he say worthy of its accept-
ance ? He certainly was not such a fool as to re-
commend an institution cf that sort what it should
do, or to tell it what its purposes were, for they knew
better that he did what it contemplated. It seemed
to him that many diatinguished men who were asked
to preside at meetings of mechanics' institutions
wasted a good deal of time in recommending them
to read this or that, to take up with a certain kind
of literature, or to follow certain studies. Ho often
doubted whether those distinguished advisers had
ever followed those studies themselves. He was
certain if those who were so addressed did their
duty, if they followed an active business which took
up the greater part of their time, they ought not to
haVe time to carry out such recommendations. At
the same time the practice often enabled them
to hear amusing, clever, agreeable speeches, as, for
example, the speech of the Speaker of the House of
Commons at the Mansfield Mechanic's Institution a
day or two since—a more able, sensible speech than
which, or more fall of the caustic wit which all who
knew the Speaker knew him to possess, he had
never read in his life. But he (Kr. Adderley)
would not attempt to recommend that institution
what its members should read, nor to show whether
any line of study was better than another. An
institution of that sort, springing from the wishes
of the people, was not formed to create a want, but
to supply a want which was felt to exist when it
was started. In a free country like this institutions
did not create wants, but were created by them,
and it was because the middle classes of Leek
some 20 or 30 years ago felt that they required
an institution which would supply them with the
news of the day, the literature in which they took
pleasure, and means of social and intellectual en-
joyment that that institution was formed, and not to
recommend them to read or what to study. So
with all such institutions. The education-of the
country followed the wants of the country, and no
amount of grants made by Parliament or of societies
formed for educational purposes would ever educate
the country, but when the appetite of the people
turned towards higher education higher education
would follow. It was the increase of skill in manu-
facture and in art that was educating the people of
this country. As science advanced with civilisation
everybody saw that they could not take their part
in life without a certain amount of skill, and that
made everybody seek the skill without which they
could not gain a livelihood. What mechanics' in-
stitutions really exemplified was the co-operative
principle in the country. This seemed a simple
thing to say, but co-operation was one of the most
important facts existing in this country. The prin-
ciple of co-operation which was illustrated in insti-
tiocs of that kind was being applied to all classes,
and was giving the lower classes the enjoyment of
many things -which up to this time nothing but
capital could command. They saw this principle
carried out everywhere—in the London clubs—
those great palaces in Pall mall, where all the
luxuries of a prince might be enjoyed by an ensign
in a marching regiment—and in Lancashire, which
possessed the most vigorous and intelligent of our
population ; and it was the co-operative principle
which had made them what they were, which had
made them a credit to the country during a crisis
of two years which might have ended in disaster,
but had only furnished an illustration of their
vigour, of the sympathy of class with class, and of
the vitality of the whole nation. (Applause.)
What wonders they now heard from Rochdale !
Had anybody present read the late accounts of the
co-operative stores at Rochdale ? He confessed
they had astonished and deeply interested him,
arid he knew nothing at that moment more
interesting, more important, more remarkable, or
more characteristic of the genius of the country, or
more hopeful for the prosperity of the country
than that wonderful co-operate spirit fostered in
Rochdale. The lower classes of operatives com- •
menced a few years ago and put by their pennies
each week, and now one association alone had a
capital of upwards of £lOO,OOO ; and by that means
what had they done ? They had given to the ope-
ratives of the lower classes the moans of enjoy-
ment of all kinds which capital alone could com-
mand. In doing this they had not only advanced
themselves, bat they had rendered a great essential
service to the country, by diminishing
the gap which
existed between the poorer and the richer and more
lueurious classes, and which was dangerous wnen-
ever it did exist to an extreme—whenever one part
of the community was supplied with luxuries and
the other with perhaps not even the common neces-
earies of life. There were two important features
in this system—they had turned among themselves
habits of debt to habits of saving and thrift, and
had raised themselves and their families in their
own and th© public estimation—(applause)—they
had changed want into plenty, and—it Yeas not too
much to say--scanty food and clothing into suffle
ciency and comfort, and, what was still more re-
markable, they had also provided by the same prin-
ciple for the education of their children and their
own intellectual and social culture. (Applause.)
Mechanics' instieutiens were ilothinee more than that
principle of cc-operation applied to their literary
wants and their social and intel-
lectual enjoyments.
In that way they were of the most essential impor-
tance, and if it was important that there s'uould be
no gap between one class and another in physical
enjoyment and comfort, hew much more important
woe it that there should be no gap between them
intellectually. If one class followed the proeres-
sive mind of the country and another class Was un-
able to follow it, what a dangerous gap Would be
growing up between them. The spirit of concord
and egreement between people was that they
should think alike, but if one-half of the country
thought one way and the other half another, if
one half was able to think and the other unable
to think and ignorant, there must be dis•