The Sun.
London, England, 1853-08-29 00:00:00

TME .geN, LONt)I MONDAY .IJi.ViN

LORD PALMERSTON AT MELBOURNE.

invented those wonderful things, tot to mention men of
siMende and of literatiire, who hive never since lam
surpassed, yet in those times knovledge was &mined to
a few. Now; however; happily; knOwledge ig at the
othiliarld of all, and books for ilcirrOVing iiistfu^tidii cf
every kind are accessible at prices which place thent
within the reach of all ; whil t alas these mechanics' in-
stitutions enable the working theses to profiP, by the
exertions, bodily and intellectual, of those who are the
investigators and acquirers of knovledge. (Cheers.) The
workman now, without going many yards from his home,
may acquire a knowledge of distant countries which was
gained by adventurous travellers vho had traversed the
burning desert or encountered the stormy ocean—who
had visited the Arctic regions, or tone to the extreme of
the southern hemisphere. The mechanic has now an
opportunity of acquiring the results of these painful
exertions without stirring from borne. He has now
also the means of applying to his own purposes all the
knowledge which men of deep scbrice have gained by
laborious processes, whether in chemistry, in mechanics,
or any other branch ; and he is enabled easily to
profit, at a small expense, from the investigations
which have been so arduously ursued by others.
The mechanic is also, by these institutions, initiated
into the secrets of nature, the contemplation of which
tends to elevate the mind ; and while, on the one
hand, it teaches every man how insignificant a por-
tion he is of the great universe which science un-
folds to him, it must also, on the other, render him
more contented with his lot, and more resigned to bear
those individual evils which Providence in its wisdom
may have ordained him to suffer. The mechanic in his
small room, by the library which is placed at his com-
mand, is enabled to know the wonderful contrivances
by which insects too small to be seen by the naked eye
are yet formed with all the artificial conformation of
larger beings—that although you cannot perceive them,
yet that they have joints, and limbs, and veins, and
blood that circulates, and lungs that breathe—that they
are endowed, although in minuteness hardly conceiv-
able by mar, with all the elaborate contrivances which
we find in the larger objects of creation. The me-
chanic also by these institutions is enabled to carry his
mind to the more elevated and distant regions of the
universe ; he is enabled, not merely to understand the
wonderful mechanism of that system of which this
earth forms a part, but be can carry his views further,
and learn that there are visible to those who have the
command of the telescopic improvements of the day,
eighty millions of suns, all of them probably as large,
though some may be larger, than ours—all of them sur-
sounded by planets like our sun, and containing pro-
bably an indpanita,...number_ of beings, all tho creatures
of the same inscrutable Power which made this world—
the contemplation of which subject must, I think, raise
the mind of the mechanic from earthly, low, and vulgar
considerations, and tend to direct his mind with fer-
vent devotion towards that great and mysterious Being
from wLem be derives his present existence. (Cheers.)
Well, then, if these institutions are advantageous to
the middle age of man, so also are savings banks valu-
able establishments for the benefits they confer upon
declining age. There is no maxim of life more
important than this, that a man should make
the day conducive to the morrow—(hear, hear)—
that he should be willing to forego enjoyments,
the temptations, the allurements of time present, for
the purpose of laying up a store which shall ensure to him
comfort in time to come ; and the observance of that
maxim is no less productive of comfort and happi-
ness in this world than essential for our well-being
hereafter. Those who act upon that maxim will find
themselves comfortable, wealthy, and respected. Those
who, on the other hand, are careless of to-morrow, and
think only of to-day, and waste and riot in extravagant
and needless pleasures those means which ought to be
laid up in store for their future support -they will lose
the respect of all their neighbours, and, what is still a
greater loss, they will lose all respect for themselves.
(sear, hear.) Well, gentlemen, nothing can be more
calculated to encourage the habit of forethought and
providence than these savings banks ; and I trust that
the good effect of the establishment of one in this town
will be as great as it has been proved to be in other
places where similar institutions have been founded. I
trust that the workman who by his industry and skill is
now in the receipt of ample wages, instead of squan-
dering (as perhaps many may now be tempted to do,
by the want of any proper means of accumulation) in
dissipation, in drunkenness, or in other momentary in-
dulgences a large portion of his earnings, will be in-
duced to lay by that portion for the future support of
himself and his family ; and depend upon it that, if
once the habit is acquired, and a man begins to feel that
by providence and forethought, by saving up a little
day by day and week by week, he is accumulating a
store which will stand him in stead when a rainy day
comes, when age and infirmity prevent him from labour-
ing with the same activity as he has been able to do
heretofore—when once that habit is gained, he will find
it a source of pleasure as well as of advantage—he will
find it a source of honest pride to himself to know that
he has been collecting together a little stock for himself,
and he will be a far happier as well as a far more re-
spectable member of society than he would have been if
he had dissipated in daily and weekly riot and extrava-
gance those means which ought to be otherwise and
more advantageously applied. (Cheers.) I look,
therefore, upon this institution as one of perhaps greater
interest than any that has ever been placed under a single
roof, because it combines a care for man from his in-
fancy to his most advanced age—it provides those means
which the improved civilisation and greater knowledge
of the times have pointed out as useful to all classes of
the community ; and I trust, therefore, that this day
will be one auspicious' to Melbourne—that every man
and every child who now hears me will reap in the future
career of this institutior benefits far greater than perhaps
many have anticipated, but benefits which have always
attended institutions of the like nature wherever they
have been founded, and wherever they have been ade-
quately supported. (Cheers.) There is one other topic,
ladies and gentlemen, on which perhaps I may be per-
mitted to address to you a few words. There is one
thing, I think, still wanting to complete the institution
of this town. I mean a school for the education of girls.
(Hear, hear.) There is an excellent boys' school, but
there is not yet a similar establishment for girls. Now,
gentlemen, it is well known that the education of women
is of the greatest importance to society. Men may be in-
deed the rough stones of which the fabric of society is
built—they are the strength and the resting portions of
that fabric ; but women are that finer cement without
which these rougher ingredients would not find order or
consistency, and without which there can be no beauty,
no form, no lasting endurance. (Hear, hear.) We all
know the important influence which is exerted by women
upon the welfare of man, whether it be in the capacity
of daughters, of sisters, of wives, or of mothers ; and
therefore, independently of any further regard for the
fairer sex—a regard, however, which lam persuaded all
whom I now address feel in the strongest degree—(a
laugh)—the most selfish consideration, a single regard
for ourselves, a mere regard for man, abstracted from
and independent of woman, ought to lead us to endea-
vour so to mould and educate the rising generation of
the female community that they may be as well fitted as
it is possible for good training and instruction to make
them to perform the various duties of life in the capaci-
ties of daughters, sisters, wives, and mothers. I there-
fore commend to your consideration—though it forms
no part of the institution now about to be esta-
blished, I commend to your anxious and earnest con-
sideration the establishment also of a girls' school at
Melbourne. (Cheers.) Ladies and gentlemen, I can only
again express the high gratification it has afforded me to
take part in this most interesting ceremony, and I
conclude with wishing every possible prosperity, not
only to the institution itself, but to the town of Mel-
bourne, to which it is destined to be both an ornament
and an honour. (Loud cheers.)
The ceremony concluded with the National Anthem,
in which the whole of the company joined.