The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-27 00:00:00

0........'...a.... ... .........-----
THE WEDGWOOD INSTITUTE,

THE CHI' .NCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER AND
EARL GRANVILLE IN THE POTTERIES.
In the present age of testimonials and memorials
it is a mutter for surprise that the genius of the
father of English ceramic art should have been left
unrecognised until the year 1863. His labours now,
however, bid fair to have something like a fitting
mem arial in the midst of a district in which he
form ded a manufacture that, even in his own time,
raised Staffordshire Pottery to the level of a fine
art,. The memorial fittingly takes the form of an in-
stitute for working men, in the old town of Burslem,
known in the district as " the mother of the Pot-
teries."

The ceremony of laying the foundation-stone was
performed by the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone,
M.P., supported by Earl Granville, K.G., and the
Hon. Robert Lowe. No more fitting person could
have been chosen to fulfil the duty. Mr. Gladstone
arrived at r3urslena by the 11 a.m. train from Ha-
warden Castle, and met with a very enthusiastic re-
ception from a large crowd of persons who were
assembled at the station, and who loudly cheered
the right hon. gentleman. Mr. Gladstone, who was
accompenied by Mrs. Gladstone, Miss Gladstone,
Sir Stephen Glyn, Lady Glyn, and the Rev.lllr.
Glyn, was met by Mr. Sheriff Hill, of Hill Pottery,
and the party proceeded at once to that gentleman's
honse in carriages.
The ceremony of laying the foundation•stone was
fixed for one o'clock, at which time the hustingsll. on
which it took place presented a very bri at ap-
petarance, being crowded by a vast assemblage of
gaily attired ladies and gentlemen. Mr. Gladstone
and Earl,Grauville on their arrival were both loudly
eb eered.
The cheers which greeted the appearance of Mr.
Gladstone having subsided,
The "High Sheriff stepped forward and presented
an address to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
'rive working men of the district also presented an
Address.
ache Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P,, then
proceeded amidst the cheers of the spectators, to per•
form the ceremony of laying the foundation stone
of the new building. A splendid porcelain casket,
containing the coins of the present year, with 'a
scroll containing the name of the institute and the
date of the building, having been handed to him by
the High Bailiff, and deposited by Mr. Gladstone in
the cavity underneath the stone, which was then
gradually lowered,theright hon. gentleman applied
the plummet line, spread the mortar, and gently
tapped the stone with his mallet when lowered,
with the grace and neatness of a perfect artist. The
completion of the ceremony was hailed by a burst of
cheers and the firing of cannon.
Mr. GLADSTONE then proceeded to deliver the fol-
lowingaddress Mr. High Bailiff, My Lords, Ladies,
a nd Gentlemen—We have now laid this stone in
honour of Josiah Wedgwood, with a view as I hope
to the permanent and effactual benefit of the people
of his birthplace. The occupations and demands of
political life compel many of those who pursue it,
and myself amongst the number, to make a
rule of declining all invitations of a local
cnaraeter except such as be within their
own immediate and personal sphere. But
when I receive, through one of your respected
representatives an invitation to co operate with
you in the foundation of the Wedgwood Institute,
I could not hesitate to admit that a de-
sign of this kind was at least, in my
view, not a local but, when properly re-
garded, rather a national design. Partly it may be
classed as national, because the manutacture of
earthnraware in its varied and innumerable branches,
is fast, becoming, or 'nos indeed become, one of our
great and distinguishieg British manufactures.
But it is for another and a broader reason that I
desire to treat the purpose you have now in hand as
a purpose of national rather than merely local or
partial interest. It is because there are certain prin-
ciples applicable to manufacture, by the observance
or neglect of which its products are rendered good
or bad. These principles were applied by Wedg
wood with a consistency and tenacity that cannot be
too closely observed. These principles being his,
and being true, were also in no small degree peculiar
to his practice, and deserved to be in the permanent
annals of art especially associated with his name. I
am engaged, as I am aware, in a somewhat perilous
undertaking, for, having to speak to you about a
man and a business, I am obliged to begin by con-
fessing what, i. I did not confess it, you would soon
discover for yourselves, namely, that of both of them
my knowledge is scanty, theoretic, and remote ;
while you breathe the air, inherit the traditions, in
some cases bear the very name of the man, and have
a knowledge of the business, founded upon experi-
ence and upon interest, in all its turns and stages,
and from its outer skin, so to speak, to its inner-
most core: It is the learner who for the moment
stands in the teacher's place, and, instead of listen-
ing with submission, seems to aim at speaking with
authority: It would be easy to enlarge in this course
of remark ; but I must stop, or I shall soon demon-
strate that I ought not to be here at all. Let me,
then, offer something on the same side. First, I
have to assure you that, whatever I shall say, I
submit with entire deference to the judgment of
those who are better informed, and with a full
confidence that, if erroneous, it would be cor-
rected, and if false exploded. Secondly, as an
observer according to my limited capacity and
means of fictile manufacture in its various branches
have formed deliberately so very high
an estimate of Wedgwood, in relation not merely to
his
particular business, but to the general laws of
eind;lesrtria.ntPytoduction, hat I am glad to have an
top briunit g it to
O stating, it fatly and fairly, in order
thirdly, in theetrial by the public judgment ; and
the Crown, andCtftfiT which I hold as a servant to
with the industry places me in incessant con-
tactbranches, atu
atnry of the country in its several
which I feel in its Welfare, to bear my testimony
to the principles of
speak, an apostle, and, elori'Vedg wood was, so to
weioteever, to give to that
testimony any little
,oavithich such an office,
and such a deep interest
in
thnem. relations estab-
lished by it, may be likely,
qualifications to impart. T absence of higher
nirty years ago it would
probably have been held b
and it may
matt, .
stet maett matters of
still be the thought of some, ta3,3t"h
which I have now to speak
principle
well be left to regulate themselveers which
may • To vi
dicate for trade in all its branches the
of If-regulation has be
and power se- been ear ne
a quarter of a century a principal fume,. arly
not the
British parliament. But the very same stage in
our political and social existence which has taught
us the true and beneficial application (Atha laws
of political economy,
has likewise disclosed to u
the just limits of the science, and, of the field of
its practical application.
striae
very same age
which has seen the State strnae _ the., fetters of
industry has also seen it interpose, with boldness
for protection of labour. (Cheers.) The same spirit
of policy which has taken from the producer the
enjoyment of preferences paralysing to him, and
most costly to the community at large, has offered
him him the aids of knowledge and instruction,
whatever means, either of precept
or example,
Public authority could command. We may
consider the products of industry with reference to
their utility, or to their cheapness, or to their in-
fluence upon the condition of those who produce
them, or lastly to their beauty, to the degree in
Which they associate the presentation of forms and
colour
__s agreeable to the cultivated eye with the
antftnaninnlmmeonat of the highest aptitude for these purposes
(Hear.)
i\ira;,f or which they are properly designed.
as to their utility and convenience
considered
alone,
who )a-ty leave that to the con-
suraer,cheatn%buy what does not suit him.
As to their
cheapness,
when
oncesecurity has
been taken that anattifitia.i should not
e
be forced to pay an e society
members for their production' rice to some of its
leave the question to the „tio'nN'c:e,
competition
may safely
among manufacturers, and of
what
we
the laws of supply and demand.
As
term
the condition of the workpeopie, experience hto
ae
shown, especially in respect to the Factory Acts,
that we should do wrong in laying down any ab-
straret maxim as an invariable rule. Generally, it
surDtion is always Against
may be saidyl.the pre aany

legislative interference, but that upon special
grounds, and most of all where children are em-
ployed, it may sometimes not only be warranted,
but required. This, however, thou4fl I may
again revert to it, is not for to-day our ,pecial sub-
ject. We come then to the last of the heads which

I have named, the association of beauty with utility,
each of them taken according to their largest sense
in the business of industrial production. And it is
in this department that I conceive we are to look
for the peculiar pre-eminence—l will not scruple to
say, the peculiar greatness—of Wedgwood. Do not
let us suppose that when we speak either of a mat-
ter which is light and fanciful or of one which may,
like some of those I have named, be left to take care
of itself. Beauty is not an accident of things. It
pertains to their essence ; it pervades the wide range
of creation—(cheers)—and, wherever it is impaired
or banished, we have in this fact the proof of the
moral disorder which pervades the world. (Cheers.)
Reject, therefore, the false philosophy of those who
will ask, " What does it matter, provided a thing
be useful, whether it be beautiful or not ?" and say
in reply that we will take our lesson from Almighty
God, who in His works bath shown us, and in His
Word also bath told us, that " He bath made every-
thing"—not one thing or another thing, but every-
thing—" beautiful in his time." (Cheers.) Among
allwo nthdeerdfueci,rweebseotfbecrreiattbieent,bethmeroeveitenennottbfonnele
more
wonderful, whether it be the movement of the hea-
venly bodies or the succession of the seasons and the
years, or the adaptation of the worldand
its pheno-
mena to the conditions of human life, or the struc-
ture of the eye or hand, or any other part of the
frame, of man—not one of these is more wonder-
ful than the profuseness with which the mighty
Maker has shed over the works of His hand an
endless and boundless beauty. (Loud cheers.)
And to this constitution of things outward the
constitution and mind of man, deranged although
they be, still answer from within. Down to the
humblest condition of life, down to the lowest and
most backward grade of civilisation, the nature of
man craves, and seems as if it were even to cry
aloud, for something—some sign or token at the
least of what is beautiful in some of the many
spheres of mind or sense. (Cheers.) It is that
which makes the Spitalfields weaver, amid the
murky streets of London, train canaries and bull-
finches to sing to him at his work; that leads the
peasant of Pembrokeshire to !paint the outside of
his cottage in lively colours; and prompts in the
humbler classes of women a desire for some little
personal ornament, certainly not without its dan-
gers—for what sort of indulgence can ever be
without them ? yet sometimes, perhaps, too
sternly repressed from the high and luxurious
places of society. We trace the operation of this
principle yet more conspicuously in a loftier region
in that instinct of rational and Christian piety
which taught the earlyimasters of the fine arts to
clothe the noblest objects of our faith, and espe-
cially the idea of the sacred person of our Lord, in
the noblest forms of beauty that their minds could
conceive or their hands could execute. (Cheers.)
It is, in short, difficult for human beings to harden
themselves at all points against the impression and
the charm of beauty. (Cheers.) Every fcrm of
life that can be called in any sense natural will
admit them. 1 know not whether there is any one
among the many species of human aberration that
renders a man so entirely callous as the lust of gain
in its extreme degrees. That passion, where it has
full dominion, excludes every other. It shuts out
even what might be called redeeming infirmities;
it blinds men to the sense of beauty as much as to
the perception of justice and right. Cases might
be named of countries where greediness for money
holds dominion, and where unmitigated ugliness is
the principal characteristic of industriat products,
On the other hand, I do not believe it extravagant
to say that the pursuit of the element of beauty in
the business of production will be found to act with
a genial character and refined influence on the com-
mercial spirit ; that up to a certain point it is in the
nature of a preservative against some of the moral
dangers that beset trade and manufacturing enter-
prise ; and that we are justified in regarding it not
merely as an economical benefit—not merely as con-
tributing to our work an element of value—not
merely as supplying a particular faculty of human
nature with proper food—but as a liberalising and
civilising power, and an instrument in its own sphere
of moral and social improvement. Indeed, it would
be strange if a deliberate departure from what we
see to be the law of nature in its outward sphere was
the road to a close conformity with its innermost or
highest laws. But now let us not conceive that,
because the love of beauty finds for itself a place in
the general heart of mankind, therefore we need
never make it the object of special attention, or put
in action special means to promote and uphold it;
for, after all, our attachment:to it is a matter of
degree, and of degree which experience has shown
to be in different places, and in different times, inde-
finitely variable. We may not be able to reproduce
the time of Pericles, or of the Cinque Cento ; but
yet it depends upon our own choice whether we
shall or shall not have a title to claim kindred,
however remotely, with them. What we are bound
to is this, to take care that everything we make•
shall, in its kind and class, be as good as we can
make it. When Dr. Johneon, whom Staffordshire
must ever place among her most distinguished
ornaments, was asked by Mr. Boswell how he had
attained to his extraordinary excellence in conver-
sation, he replied that he had no other rule or system
than this, that whenever he had anything to say,
he tried to say it in the best manner that he was
able. (Hear, hear.) It is this perpetual striving
after • excellence on the one hand, or the want of
such effort on the other, which, mcne than the ori-
ginal difference of gifts, contributes to bring about
the differences we see in the wcrks and characters
of men. Such efforts are more rare in proportion
as the object in view is higher, the reward more
distant. In the application of beauty to works of
utility the reward is generally distant. A
new element of labour is imported into the
process of production, and that element, like
others, must be paid for. In the modern publica-
tion which the firm of Wedgwood and Bentley put
forth under the name of a cataloe ue, but which
really contains much sound and useful information
on the principles of industrial art, they speak plainly
on the subject. They say—" There is another error
common with those who are not over well acquainted
with the particular difficulties of a given art. They
often say that a beautiful object can be manufac-
tured as cheaply as an ugly one. A moment's re-
flection would undeceive them." The beautiful ob-
ject would be dearer than one perfectly bare and
bald ; not because utility is compromised for the
sake of beauty, but because there may be more
manual labour, and there must be more thought in
the original design. Therefore the manufacturer,
7.1:08e daily thought must and ought to be to cheapest
his productions, endeavouring to dispense with all
that can be
..
spared, is under much temptation to
decline let •
of the cost beauty stand as an item in the ac-
countecononaieei laws
of production. So the pressure of
of trade. AnNvds tells severely on the finer elements
as in other caseayet it may be argued that in this,
bility and eolidityin the case, for example, of dura-
first is not cheape-s
t--t-ithat which appears cheapest at
two reasons. In henfi.the long run. And this for
run mankind are win". t place, because in the long
France is the second eottianory a price for beauty.
world, and her command oCrcial country in the
clearly referable in a great foreigna
e•ance of her productions, to gree to the real ale-
n establish in the most
intelligible form the principle that taste
changeable value. But there seems .
_has an ex-
to b another
way by which the law of nature arrives at its re-
venge upon the shortsighted trust for cheque
findin, beauty oze, - 88*
We begin, say, by ,ze e .risive. vv,„
pay artists for producing it. Tt,n
em-
ploymentdeel;ne to
ceases, and they disappear. Presently we 1
u
find that works reduced totter baldness do not sa-
eet a demand for embellish-
tisfy. We have to m
race
who of some Rind, bill: we ha' .ve starved out the
on. We
who knew the laws and mode of its product:
substitute strenr,th for flavour, quantity for
incongruous
quality, and we end by producing
excrescences—(cheers)—or
hideous malforma-
tions, of a greater cost than would have sufficedd
for the nourishment among us of chaste and
virgin art. So the penalty of error may be
certain ; bat the reward of sound judgment and