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

The ceremony of laying the foundation-stone was
performed by the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone,
supp orted by Earl Granville, K.G., and the
Hon. Rob art Lowe. No more fitting person could
have been chosen to fulfil the duty. Mr. Gladstone
arrived at Burslem 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
accompanied by Mrs. Gladstone, Miss Gladstone,
Sir ,F;tephen Glyn, Lady Glyn, and the Rev. Mr.
Glyn, was; met by Mr. Sheriff Hill, of Hill Pottery,
and the party proceeded at once to that gentleman's
house in carriages.
The ceremony of laying the foundation-stone was
fixed for one o'clock, at which time the hustings on
which it took place presented
a very brilliant ap-
pearance, being crowded by a vast assemblage of
gaily attired ladies and gentlemen. Mr. Gladstone
and Earl,Gr anvilleon their arrival were both loudly
cheered.
The ch eere which greeted the appearance of Mr.
Gladstone having subsided,
The High Sheriff stepped forward and presented
an address to the Chancellor of the Exchequer.
The working men of the district also presented an

address.
Ph a Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, M.P., then
woe tedee amidst the cheers of the spectators, to per
forform the ceremony of
.laying the foundation atone
of the new building. A splendid porcelain casket,
c entaining 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 ceviry underneath tne atone, which was then
grad uehly lowered, the right 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
comp letioa of the ceremony was hailed by a burst of
cile;:rs and the firing of cannon.
Ir. GLADS'2ONE
then proceeded to deliver the fol-
lowi ugadtlress Mr. High Bailiff, My Lords, Ladies,
and Genthrmen—Wf3 have now laid this stone in
honour t
0, Josiah Wedgwood, with a view Ls I hope
to the P'frznanent and Effectual beeefit of the people
of his 6.irthplace. The occupations and dernandaot
politic el life compel many of those who pursue it,
and 'myself amongst the number, to make a
rule of declining all invitations of a local
chars tier except such as be within their
own immediate and personal sphere. But
whe n I receive, through one of your respected
representatives an invitation to cooperate 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-
urded, rather a national design. Partly it may be
c.lassed as national, because the manufacture of
earthenware in its varied and innumerable branches,
is fast becoming, or hiss indeed become, one of our
great and disti'nguishieg British mauufactures.
Bet it is for another and a broader reason that I
dosire 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 clooely observed. These principles being his,
and being true, were also in no small degree peculiar
to his yr Acacia and deserved to be in the permanent
annals o f art especially associated with his name. I
am env Lged, as I am aware, in a somewhat perilous
undeett,king, for, having to speak to you about a
man tatd a business, I am obliged to begin by con-
fessit ig what, i I did not confess it, you would soon
disce,ver for yourselves, namely, that of both of them
ray knowledge is scanty, theoretic, and remote ;
while you breathe the air, inherit the traditions, in
seine cases bear the very name of the man, and have
aknowlAge of the business, founded upon experi-
ence tarol 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
stun ds 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-
st'oate that I ought not to be here at all. Let me,
',hen, offer something on the same side. First, I
4'7e to assure you that, whatever I shall say, I
etTsneit with entire deference to the judgment of
eZet. Who are better informed, and with a full
4'les that, if erroneous, it 'would be cor-
bested.
' and it false exploded.
obseat,e„
tia,„ar
(;:flecording to my limited capacity and
h": Itile manufacture in its various branches
an eetteute
o'rmed deliberately so very high
btu particniuw ocig wood, in relation not merely to
iudustrjal proabearti.ness, but to the general laws of
op portuaity or
attXo, that I am glad to have an
to bring it to trial it fully and fairly, in order
thirdly, in the Oro, Y the public judgment ; and
the Crown, and. which i I hold as a servant to
agaetta, me in incessant con-
tact with the industry `
branches, I am anxious, fe country in its several
which I feel in its welfare, Zit the deep interest
to the principles of which Wed ear my testimony
wood was, so to
speak, an apostle, and, morea,e!,
testimony any little weight which t° give to that
and such a deep interest and near rcuct!i an office,
lished by it, may be likely, in the ahseta:ons estate-
' ns to impart. Thirty yearsqualificatioe of higher
ago it would
probably have been held by many,
and it
et some,may
still be the thought of that the matters of
now to speak are matter
which I have 6 which
may well be left to regulate themselves. Te .
in all its branches the p •
dicate for traderiaatrae
and power of self-regulation has been for nearlya
quarter of a century
a principal funetionef the
British Parliament. But the very same stage in
our political and social existence which has taught
us th© true and beneficial application of the laws
-
of political economy, has likewise disclosed to ns
the just limits of the science, and of the field of
its practical application The very same age
which has seen the State strike oft' the fetters of
industry has also seen it interpose wish boldness
for protection of labour. (Cheers.) The satuc spirit
of policy which has taken from the producer the
and
enjoyment of preferences paralysing to him, ,
Taoet costly to the community at large, has offered
klm the aids of knowledge and instruction, by
'whatever means, either of precept or example,
public authority could command. We may
consider the products of industry with reference to
their utility, n
th or to fluencetheir cheapness, or to their in-
gP,° 3 condition of those who produce
them,
or
lastly to their beauty, to the degree in
which they asseetat
colours agree e the presentation of forms and
e
to the cultivated eye with the
attainment of the
of common life for highest Which
aptitude for these purposes
hi
(Hear.) Now, as to thetlhey are roperly designed.
convenience
considered alone, We may utilitylevey and c o
that to the con-
sr sr;: z: what not bay wlt. hoes not suit, him.
ata to tee:. ca .4 aness, when
Once
i security has
been taken. that an entire society should not
be forced to pay an artificial Price to some
o
members for their productions' we may g,: itsits
leave, the question to tho action of
COMPetition"
manufacturers. and of what we term
end demand.
As to
/weenie, expenence has
—„,
re to toe Factory Acts,
eten, especially in rc
that we should do wrong in laying Coven coy ab.
ste act maxim as an invariable rule. Generally, i
may he &jape, prestimptk,n ef;,iirst,

the laws of euppiT

legislative interference, but that upon special
grounds, and most of all where children are em-
ployed, it may sometimes not only be watranted,
but required. This, however, thou; e I may
again revert to it, is not for to-day our special sub-
ject. We come then to the last otthe 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 hath told us, that " He bath made every-
thing"—not one thing or butanother(tchhineegr,s.)Among
every-
thing—" beautiful in his time."
all the decrees of creation, there is not one 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 world and 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
wan 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 earlymasters of the fine arts to
clothe the noblest objects of our faith, and espe-
eia:ly the idea of the sacred person of our Lord, in
the noblest fortos 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 form 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 industrial 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 woad
be strange if a deliberate departure from what we
Fee 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. Johnson, 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
Ale. (Hear, hear.) It is this perpetual striving
after excellence on the one hand; or the want of
such effort on the other, which, mote than the ori-
ginal difference of gifts, contributes to bring about
the differences we see in the works 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 catalogue, 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-
eetion would Undeceive them." The beautiful ob-
)tet 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
whose.daii
tdesign. Therefore the manufacturer,
decline letti hou ht must and ought to be to cheapen
actionshispreoadu
el
thatendeavouring to dispense with all
Pa
reeadu,t
count of the is under much temptation to
ll!l:
ly stand as an item in the ac-
economical production. So the pressure of
tells pressure of
erAcansdesy---ye_tinit
ttilitletZlbveon the finer elements
ofsn trade.
other
t h
argued that in this,
placge,rbun.
ewttshei, for example, of dura-
bility and solidit
appears cheapest at
Pay
aecause in the long
first is not cheapest in the ionsk
And this for
two reasons. In the first
run mankind are willing to
Price for beauty.
Franco is the second commercial
Country in the
world, and her command of foreign markets seems
clearly referable in great degree to the real ele-
ganceroductions, to establish.
of her p in the most
intelligible form the principle that taste
an ex-
changeable
But there seems to b
value. e another
way by which the law of nature arrives at its re-
venge upon the short, I
sighted trust far cheapal
We begin, say, by finding. beauty expensive. We
„
rmo decline to pay artists for producing it. I
em-
ployment ceases, and they disappear. Presently we
find that works reduced to utter baldu(ss do not sa-
tisfy. We have to meet a demand for embellish
meat of some ',rind, but we have starved out the race
who knew the laws and mode of its proauction. We
for
substitute strength for flavour, quantity
quclity, and we end by producing incongruous
ex(irescences—(cheers)—or hideous niaVorma-
ti,aos, of a greater cost than would have sufficed
for the nourishment among us of chaste acrd
virgin art. So the penalty of error In iy be
certain ; bat the reward of sound
t.