The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-08 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONWN, TUESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 8, 1863.

OLD—First, prize of £25, to Mr. John Ford, jun., of Rush-
ton, Blandford, Dorset--second prize of £l5, to Mr. Walter
Farthing, of Stowey-court, Bridgewater, Somerset—and
third prize of £lO, to Mr. William Smith, of Exeter.
CLASS 4,—DEVON Cows, Arum 4 YEARS OLD—First
prize of £25, to Mr. John Overman, of Burnham, Sutton,
Norfolk—second prize of £l6, to Mr. William Heath, of
Ludham-hall, Norwich—and third prize of £lO, to Major-
Gen. the Hon. A. N. Hood, Cumberland-lodge, Windsor,

second prize of £5 to Lord Wenlock, of Much Wenlock,
Shropshire.
CLASS 41.—FAT WETHER SHEEP OF THE SHROPSHIRE
BREED, Two YEA.I.:S OLD (ABCVE 23 AND UNDER 35
MONTHS)—First prize of £l5 to Mr. Thomas llorley, jun.,
of The Fosse, near Leamington, Warwick— and second
prize of £5 to the Earl cf Aylesford, of Packington-hall,
Coventry.

papers supply, and which has a most baneful effect on the
whole North Americancharacter, Newspapers will always be
a great portion of the intellectual food of a psople,ancl our own
are conducted in a verydifferoat spirit. False and wrong their
views may often be, but in general they are advocated failly
and temperately; the arguments are addressed to the judg-
ment of the people, or to the best and noblest, and not to the
base and vulgar passions of humanity. (Cheers.) I trust that
popular education will soon be far more universal than it is.
I believe it to be as much a necessity of our age as air, water,
or the fbod we eat. If in America education has not had all
the good effects which it ought to have had, I say when the
air we breathe is impure, or the water we drink is foul, we
take measures to purify and to cleanse ; we do not dream of
cutting off the supplies, and what wo have to consider is not
whether the people shall be educated or not, but how tho
fullest and purest education shall be afforded. (Cheers.) I
believe institutions such as this may do much good I
am glad to see by the subjects of examination that nothing
very high is aimed at. What is principally insisted on is a
sound structure of knowledge of your own English lan-
guage. If you can thus induce young persons leaving school,
who have a natural taste for the acquisition of knowledge,
to study some of the masterpieces of our language, either in
poetry or in prose, you will have fortified in the most effec-
tual manner their minds against the reception of anything
which is base, ignoble, or injurious. (Applause:) lam not
going to imitate the Americans by exaggerating. I know we
cannot by societies such as this reach the great masses of
the people. It is only a very little way we can go, but our
direction is good, and ae do get hold of those young per-
sons leaving school who have a natural inclination to study,
and whose minds, if not directed by such institutions as
this in the right way might, on the contrary, be perverted
to the wrong way. (Cheers.) Ladies and gentlemen, I
am reminded by that part of the resolution which refers to
the distress that in former years there were some grounds
on which a comparison might be drawn between Lance-
Aire and the Northern States of America. Both coun-
tries excelled beyond any other in energy—both were
making money faster—in both the manufacturers and
capitalists were richer, and, I believe, the labouring
population were better off than in any other part of
the globe. In both the science of the application of ma-
chinery to the wants of mankind had reached a higher per-
fection than anywhere else; and in both that extension of
the powers and use of machinery had exercised a marked
and decided influence upon the public mind. May I be for-
given if I say that in both the subject of my comparison,
perhaps, an impartial observer might have detected some of
kite same faults and weaknesses ? • Perhaps in Lancashire, as
in America, we have in former years been, if it is a fault;
ahrsost too self-reliant. Perhaps we have trusted too much
to ourselves for the continuance of the prosperity which we
so long enjoyed. Perhaps we have been a little wanting in
sympathy with the feelings of the rest of England. Perhaps
we thought that not only were we stronger and richer than
the inhabitants of the rest of our country, but wiser, and
that the time would never come when we should need .their
assistance. To continue the parallel, I am sorry to say that
to both at the same moment and from the same cause a
heavy blow and great misfortune have occurred. But here
the parallel comes to an end. While in America every day
the war continues each side only learns to hate the other
with still more bitter hatred, while the Northern States
sewn not content with the war they are waging at home,
but look with distrust and suspicion on all countries abroad
—countries which I do believe from the bottom of my heart
do not swish or intend any evil to them—in Lancashire, on
the other hand, it was only when we knew adversity that
we found out that the people of the rest of England were our
friends and brothers. (Cheers.) Lancashire will not soon for-
get the heartine:s, the generosity, the spontaneity of the
movement with which all England castle to her assistance,
(Cheers.) And England will not soon forge: the heroism and
fortitude with which Lancashire has borne her troubles. We
know England better,and England knows us better, than any
time the last 20 years; and if we have suffered it is worth
something to feel we, are heart and soul and hand in held
with all our brothers in this great nation. (Cheers.) While in
America the prospect grows darker and darker, and every
day of war seems only to push further onward in the future
the final result, whatever it may be, here I trust we may
say without boasting that we have passed through the
blackest darkness of the night, and that calculations as rea-
sonable as can be made prove to us that after another win-
tes• of less severe hardship we shall at last emerge again into
sossething like our former state of prosperity, (Cheers.)
One more point of interest, I think, there is. It was our
good fortune to know at once, or very soon after this cala-
mity fell upon us, what was to be its extent, and to be able
to take measures to meet it. Lancashire was a strong man
beaten down, almost paralysed for a time ; but life is slowly,
though painfully, returning. But the other subject of my
comparison does not know, even yet, what is the extent of
her calamity. At this moment, I believe, nine-tenths of
the people of the Northern States are enjoying a greater
amount of apparent prosperity than ever they enjoyed
before. I was astonished the other day to read in the speech
—I forget whether of Mr. Cobden or Mr. Bright at Roch-
dale; I think it was Mr. Cobden's—that not a citizen of
the United States was the poorer for the war. I will not
believe that either of those distinguished men could be so
false to all the long-cherished doctrines and theories of their
lives as to suppose there can be anything sound or real in the
prosperity which that people are now enjoying. Do either
of them doubt for a moment that for every hour of this false
and inflated prosperity a dreadful reckoning must surely
come ? No, ladies and gentlemen, I say that the utter pro-
stration which fell upon us was infinitely better—and we
ought to thank Providence for it—when compared with the
fatal prosperity with which the United States of America
are now cursed. It was far better for us to know at once
and take measures to meet the calamity, and slowly and
feebly to recover from it, than to go on recklessly, as those
States are doing now, into a course which all thinking men
must know can lead them to nothing but utter and
complete national ruin. How long that day may be
averted it is impossible to say—but if there is any truth in
history, and if we can derive any information from its les-
sons, I think we cannot doubt, however much we may de-
plore, that a catastrophe such as the world has never seen
muot overtake that once flourishing and prosperous country.
After some concluding remarks his lordship sat down amid
much cheering, and the resolution was unanimously passed
Subsequent resolutions recognised the success of the in-
stitution and of the science and art classes.