The Sun.
London, England, 1825-07-02 00:00:00

of leisure under the moral board of the parental 'roof,- to ever '
SClldiag them altogether to . such moral places as Oxford and
Cambedge.-1-(A laugh.)—There was another circumstance., ,
too, in favour of a London University—there were many .who
put their children at early periods of life to different professions,
anti with had not, duringlheir apprenticeship, accessible means
of perfecting branche:i of education of. essential use to their
future destination. This disadvantage could be ronedied by
the new University:. and the master no doubt would willingly..
allow three hours a-day for improvement in that particular de-
partment of instruction, which would be mutually profitable. to
master and apprentico—( [fear! )—ln the case of the Mechanics'
Sorie:ies, Dr. llirkbeck advanced the money for the building:
and they went at once to work, so that it-was on the eve of
• opening: not so however with this grisit llniversit y.; the capital,'
for undertalchig'which was too large to be obtained so readily,
They were therefore obliged to issue transferable Shares, and tc
come for money into the society, where money' was, he knew,. mit'
to be had by merely' asking for it, but where no man had ever
yet applied for it in vain with a scheme that was honest, prac-
tical,and important to society. The subscriptions which were
called for proved nothing but the .desireof the parries to pm-
Mote • a purpose universally useful: it was a subscription rAorp
honest, nore truly religions. more philosophical. and mire full
Of the Wisdom of a good. and religious man, than that-to Which
eminent individual alluded when he said-in his ,chapter
upon:another-kind of subscription, that he was tockpoor to keep,,
' a conscience.. The Hon. and Learned °emit...in:l4l.o'm pro-
notinced a high eulogium upon the. -Lord •Mayor for psaildicg
-on.this occasion with that readiness which he had alwayrorriesin
to promote the good of his fellow-citizens. He expressed- his
conviction that the proposed Institution, whatever opposition
might be raised against it at present by persons who did not, or
who would not, understand its intent; would, triumphantly suc-
ceed ; and that its future utility would be the best reward for all
o),i-se who should now support its establishment. He concluded
by applying to it. the lines of the Poe:-7.

As some tall cliff that lifts its awful form,
" SwellS from the vale, and mid Way leaves the storm ;
" 'rho' round its base the rolling clouds are Spread,
" Eternal sunshine settles on its lipad."
The Hon. Gentleman seconded the motion, and sat down amidst
loud cheering,: _ _ _

Mr. RUTT addressed the Meeting, but was repeatedly in-
terrupted through- a misapprehension of his intention. Ile
said thattheir promptitude for interruption was the best proof
he had. yet seen of the want of this very London University.
—4Laughter.)—He then strongly approved of the plan of it,
and augured the best advantages from its establishment. •
The Residution, which.was to the effect that a•prospectits of
the proposed University should be immediately .published for
general circulation, was then put anti carried. .
Mr. Cox announced that he had received a letter from Lord
Holland, expressing hifi regret at being unable to' attend the
meeting, owing to an. indisposition which confined him to his
room: -His Lordship, however, expressed his warmest wishes
fot the prosperity of the proposed institution. _

. .
Sir James MACKINTOSH rose to move the second resolu-
tion. 'He said that the state of his own health had preViously
disposed him to take up only a small portion of the time of the
Meeting, but this disposition was. greatly increased by the
full and luminous explanation which his Learned Friend (Mr.
Brougham) had 'already given of the object of the proposed-
University, and which, while it had exhausted the subject, ren-
dered almost any observation front him superfluous. The
numbers and the respectability of the Meeting he had the ho-
nour of addressing convinced him in the most satisfactory
-manner that the subject received an approbation which he
hailed as an augury of its future succese...--(Cheers.)—lf it
were not so, still the simplicity and the obvious utility of the,
proposition would render illustration unnecessary, because it
was in itself clearer than any illustration could • make it. To
attempt to prove by argument the facts which bad been stated
by his Learned Friend, would be useless. To endeavour to per-.
suede the inhabitants of the city of London that an institution
which should facilitate the means of giving a lihetal education.
to their children deserved their encouragement, would be to in-
'suit their understandings. That city, which was one .of the
greatest that ancient or modern times had ever beheld, need
not be told that its freedom was the result of the knowledge of
its inhabitants; and that liberty was in all cases the result, the
follower of knowledge. It need not be told that the possession
of this knowledge was its greatest and most eminent distinction
among all the cities of the world ; nor was it necessary to excite
the eympethy4ifsucle-a. city in behalf of_ the institution now.
about to.be established, by reminding' it Vint theditrusibn
knowledge among men tended to make them More virtuous,
and therefore more free.—(Cheers.)—He 'felt at every steri, and
he could 'not help again expressing the feeling, that his Learn- '
ed Friend had anticipated all that he would have said (less ably,
but not less earnestly yen this interesting snbject. All that was
left to him might be comprised in a few sentences. Within 10
miles of the place on which they now stood was contained a po-
pulation of 1,200,000 souls. Of that population he would ven-
ture to affirm, that there was not another in the world so elesir-
bus of procuring the adiantagee of education. There was not
another in the world whose pursuits Would be so much aided,.
whose character would be so much improved, whose importance
would be so much-raised by the possession of those advantages.
They had not the means nor the leisure to seek them if they.
Were placed at a distance; but they had the means and the
leisure and the desire to avail themselves of them if they could
be brought home to their own doors.—(Loud cheers.)—.This
short view of the subject comprised all that could be said upon
-it; forif this were true (and he believed that few of the-open
enemies of this proposition, few even of, that more munerous.
'body its concealed enemies, would venture to deny it), it fol-,
lowed that the city of London was not only a fit, but the fittest
place for such an institution as was • now to be established.
The measure was not only wise and expedient, but, gene-
'rally speaking, he might say without exaggeration that it
was a necessary one.—(Hear, hear!)—Important and dear to
those who heard him as was the subject of educating the
rising generation of the city of London, the proposed unie
versity would also be highly useful in affording the means
of instruction to young men who came in great numbers
from time country, and who were obliged to apply themselves to'
trade. The effect of this would be to render them as respect-
able for their acquirements as they were for their private con-
duct; no mistake being in his opinion 'greater, though none
was more common, than that the pursuits of ordinary life
'were at variance with the acquisition of knowledge. The
Honourable and Learned Gentleman concluded by movieg_s_
" That the proposed Institution be called the LOndon Univer-
city ; the object of which shall be to afford a liberal education
at a moderate expense."
Mr" THOMAS CAMPBELL- 'rose to second the resolution..
He had every inducement, at far as his own personal feelings
were concerned. to have refrained from addressing the :Meeting.
His health, which was extremely feeble, the 'oppressive heat
which prevailed, and—what was even still more oppressive—
the sense of his own very moderate rhetorical powers, would
have inclined him (after the eloquent speeches which had been
delivered by his iron. and Learned Friends) to have remained
silent. Having, however, been intimately connected with the
fornuttion of the plan which was now, he trusted, to receive the
teinctionof the Meeting, he felt that he ought not, and he could
not desert it. This feeling triumphed over the obstacles which
IRV in his way, and the mental energy which they excited, over-
came, as it alwaya would do, physical infirmity. Even-if the
Meeting had not listened to the brilliant and convincing speeches
be hi'4! Hob. 'Friends, he should not have thought it necessary
to _address to it any argument in defence of the' proposed Lone
don University. The gratifying appeirance which the as:46l-
- before: him preeetited, the enthusiasm they had evinced,
the syniptoms of zeal and interest they had already displayed,
• Were tokens which he could not mistake, and which he hailed
as proof* that they were pledges to the snceetts of the institution.
—tit earls— The claims 'upon which the propottition stood were,
on the one hand, its utility, .and on the other its practicability.
`Of its utility he would not say one word, because it was evi-
dent. and because the mere circumstance of"his having such
n 'Meeting to aridness convinced hint that-they-felt it to be so.—
(Hear"!)-Of its practicability, why shOuld'he 'say more? Why
Shciuld he say one word to the people of the city of London,
who were like Fortunatus with his wishing-cap on his head,
arid who had' only to wish that a thing should be done in order
to ensure its completion.—(Cheers.)-In the course of the
agreeable labours which this *Object hail imposed upon him, he
had ascertained the singular fact thatehere were only three cities
in the world destitute of an university for the education of the
younger branches of their several communities.. These cities
were coristantinople, Madrid, and (he.blushed to add) London.
It was fit that the jealous and ignorant ,policy" of the Turkish
Government should shut up as far as it wa-s able the fountains of
knowledge, and of that freediim to which knoWledge gave birth,
and which flourished tinder its benign 'influence. It was tit that
suck a Government should seek to stifle-the breathing of intel-
I igence, and 'that it should endeavour to keep blind and degraded
the people whoneit .enslaved. It was not surprising that such