The Sun.
London, England, 1855-12-18 00:00:00

MARSDEN MECHANICS INSTITUTE.

MR. BRIGHT ON EDUCATION, NEWSPAPERS,
THE UNITED STATES, AND THE WAR. .
On Friday evening last a meeting was heldinLaoat room
of of Messrs. W. Eckroyd and Son's new mill, -
hayes, Marsden, near Colne, to promote the interests o.c
the Marsden Mechanics' Institute. There was a large
attendance of working men ; and the principal residents
in the neighbourhood, together with many ladies, were
present. John Bright, Esq., M.P., was amongst those
upon the platform. air. W. F. Eckroyd occupied the
chair.
Mr. BRIGHT said that from the invitation he had re-
ceived from the chairman to be present and say a few
words, he was by no means prepared for so important a
meeting ; and although he felt as if he had been to some
extent entangled in a trap, he still felt, also, grateful for
the pleasure afforded of being present. He presumed
their object was to stir one another up ; not that those
upon the platform should stir up those in the meeting—
for he had no doubt that, considering the difference of
station, they upon the platform equally needed to be
stirred up. Speaking for the one he knew the most of,
he could truly say that he should feel quite condemned
if he were to go into anything like a lecture of anybody
then present, knowing how great were his own short-
comings with regard to this matter of self-improvement.
One thing was very satisfactory in looking at the ques-
tion of the mental, intellectual, and moral growth of
the people—thata great number of obstacles that existed
for our grandfathers, and still more for theirs, were in
our case removed ; and that although there was no royal
road to learning, yet that the road had been somewhat
macadamised, and that on the whole we might get on
faster than our forefathers did in travelling in the same
direction. This brought strongly to his mind one result
which we saw around us—the equalising influence that
appeared to act upon the world as the world grew older.
Every invention in science, and every discovery in art,
did something to break down the inequalities and the
inconveniences of society. However poor a man
might be, if he could get inside a railway carriage,
he made his way to his journey's end just as fast
as a duke ; while in former times the one would
have had to trudge wearily on foot, and the
other would have dashed past in a splendid carriage,
with at least 4 horses. As regarded books, the change
was just as extraordinary. Not long ago (in the history
of a country), books were very scarce indeed. A few
rich men bad them, as many had now, for ostentation
rather than for use—(laughter)—but certainly as re-
garded persons of moderate means, or those who
lived upon wages, very few books were found in their
houses. The great man who introduced printing into
this country once wished that in time his art might be
carried to so extravagant an extent that a Bible would
be found in every parish in England. Now one could
probably be found in almost every house; or, at least,
their absence could not result from their not being cheap
enough. Everybody now might have a library at a very
mall cost. Cobbett said that nobody required more in
the way of a library than the books he had written. He
(Mr. Bright) would not say that ; but still with books
not more in number than those Cobbett wrote, a man
might have as many as, if he would really read, under-
stand, and remember,iwould make him every bit as un-
pleasant a fellow to meet in argument, and a good deal
more useful and practical than were many of those who
fancied they had read whole libraries through. It was
not the number of books read that made a man power-
ful ; it was the really mastering a few good books, un-
til he became, as it were, part of the spirits of the
great men who wrote them, thoroughly imbued
with their feelings, and capable of enjoying the
wisdom they had left to us. Then see how much
had been done with regard to newspapers. Fur a
penny or twopence, we could nose get really admirable
newspapers, especially in Lancashire and Yorkshire.
Let any man take one of those newspapers in our large
towns, and try to realise what there was in it, and what
had to be done to get it there. Why, there was nut
a quarter of the globe, not a country of importance, front
which the penny or twopenny newspaper did not publish
interesting intelligence weekly or daily. Sixty or seventy
years ago, the Times was not above a quarter as big as
one of the newspapers now. It then contained mere
scraps of intelligence, beginning—" We hear from Hol-
land," or elsewhere, the news being a month old at
least, with the additional advantage that no one could
ever tell whether it was true or not, and that you could
rarely comprehend the meaning even of the words that
were printed, so incomprehensibly bad was the style of
writing. Some few years ago we had to pay 4d. for the
stamp on every newspaper—a monstrous and seemingly
incredible thing. Nut only were bread and newspapers
then taxed, but so was light ; and he believed that. the
same people would have taxed air also if they could have
seen their way to a profit. After the passing of the Re-
form Bill, there was a great agitation against the 4d.
stamp, and it was reduced to ld. Our rulers did not
care so much about lowering a tax—what they al ways
wanted was to keep on a little; they knew that if it
once disappeared it could not he restored ; but that while
any existed, there was always a chance to increase it.
(Hear, hear.) The 1(1. stamp remained from 1835 or
1836 down to the present year. It required several
years' agitation in a small way to get rid of it. The Go-
vernment said it was needed for revenue, but the oppo-
nents of it knew a great deal better. It was intended
simply to prevent cheap newspapers, because the Govern-
ment and others thought—judging most foolishly and,
unwisely—that the appetite of the people was for some-
thing bad ; that there were those who were ever ready
to pander to it ; ayd that cheap newspapers would make
the country scarcely worth living in. It was in the days
of Queen Anne, some 150 years ago, that the stamp was
put upon newspapers, avowedly for the purpose of mak-
ing it impossible that they could exist to so great an ex-
tent as they had done. A stamp was imposed upon
pamphlets, because many, and no doubt violent ones,
were written against the Government of that day ; for
when a dozen gentlemen—or no gentlemen, as they were
—got to be members of a Government, they would have
nothing published, if they could help it, to prevent their
remaining so as long as possible. He recollected the
substance of a despatch sent home about that time by
the governor of Virginia. That gentleman said lie was
very much disgusted with the clergy—with the preachers
generally ; that it would be agreat deal better if they would
preach less and pray more, for they taught things that the
people should not know. Thank God, they had neither a
school nor a printing press there, and he hoped they never
would while he lived, for then the colony would he in peace.
(Hear.) That was just the spirit out of which aro.e the
newspaper stamp ; and disguise it as you would, that
was precisely the spirit under which it was maintained.
-,No one could have read the newspapers for 20 or :30
years, without seeing that although they were cheapened
20 years ago, and again recently, cheapening had not at
all deteriorated their quality— their moral quality, be
meant. He thought they were as well written as ever
Ai regarded the matter of powerful writing ; that they
were as good in their tone generally ; and far less per-
sonal and libellous than at that period. All the grounds
upon which the stamp was professedly maintained were
thus destroyed ; and it was to be hoped that as the peo-
ple improved themselves the mental food administered
to them would also be improved—that the people would
be improved by the greater wisdom of the newspapers,
and that the newspapers would be improved because the
people liked wisdom more than ever. (Hear.) The
chairman had referred to the education of children ; and
he(slr. Bright) did not believe that there was anything it
would be more profitable for a man to consider deeply,
than the value to
themselves of a good education for
their children ; and when he said go
" d," hedi,l not
mean classical, or anything extraordinary,o but that sort
of education which moulded a child—which, es lie
grew up, led him to useful and pure enjoyments—which
would give a chance, in fact the greatest probability, as he grew up he would do what was
right,
and
be a credit and a comfort to those who had the greatest
concern in him. He had been mixed with many hun-
dreds of persons employed in mills, ever since he was a
boy ; and it bad always seemed to him most grievous
that so many of those who worked for weekly wages
should see their children so often disappoint what one
might call just and reasonable expectations on the pa-
rents' parts. (Hear.) He was satisfied that this was
because children's minds were not trained to occupations
and enjoyments which would lead them from bad com-
panionships, and preserve them from the thousand temp-
tations thatlbeset young persons in every class of life.
Until recently, when children left school, they had very
little opportunity of continuing their education ; and he
always advocated the abolition of the newspaper stamp,
the more strongly with a view to an improvement on that
point. He thought that if newspapers could be sold for
one penny, every working man would be sure to have
one, if not every day, at least every week ; that if the
working man could read well himself, it would not be at
all difficult for him to give his child a little exercise
and practice in reading from this chart of the world's
history, so cheaply within his reach, and that by these
means, there being so much greater inducements for
young persons to read, the period between leaving school
and settling in life would have some chance of being
occupied in pursuits of a better character than was now
too often the case ; that the habit of reading commenced
at school would be continued and strengthened, and be-
coAndme a positive appetite with the growth of the body.
when we considered what a really perfect kind of
enjoyment—so far as this
state of being almost allowed
—there was to be derived from the gaining of knowledge
by reading good books, it seemed to him a proof of the
beneficence of Providence that now, more
than at any
time else, this vast enjoyment
~,,as conferred upon al-
most everybody. Whenever be could possibly do so, he
spent 3 or 4 hours of an evening reading some work of
history or biography; and he never went to bed with 3
more perfect feeling of enjoyment, or of being strength
.-
sued, than when he bad so spent an evening. But that
was not an enjoyment to him simply because he was
better off than others might be ; because the cost to any
man of providing himself with such reading,
ni 0
yed i
for att-
,
least as many evenings as he (Mr. Bright) e
would be so trifling that the smallest abstinence from any
needless gratification would secure the means. The cost
of so much beer as was taken by a man who drank it,
and yet was never drunk in his life, would supply him
with mental food which would strengthen his thoughts,
nerve him to meet the trials of life, make his home far
more comfortable, enable him to give to his children
tastes which would do much to guard them from inevit-
able temptations and as his head grew grey to see those
children settled creditably around him, anxious to re-
turn the care and affection which he had bestowed upon
them during infancy and childhood. Another great rea-
son why men should read and think was, that we were
not placed upon this earth merely to weave and sell
cloth. There were ouyr, duties as citizens and members
of a great comnaunit
we chose to emigrate connected indissolubly—unless
-ii--ewiwthastteopro-perity, and destinies
of a great empire.
a were m grea to
nelxytetnwto ot
things
nthe
s
opinion of the an who said there
worth talking about—religion and politic-s
• but the
discussion of these was always sup
posed to be
se ..-ve , -