The Sun.
London, England, 1836-11-18 00:00:00

CHANGE OF MINISTRY !

This clay was published, neatly bound and gilt lettered, price Is. 6d.,
COBBETT'S LEGACY TO PEEL;
foretelling the present Crisis, and showing the difficulties
that the Right lion. Bart. would have to contend with, on again
taking office.
By WILLIAM COBBETT, late M.P. for Oldham.
Published at the Office for Cobbett's Works, 11, Bolt-court,
Fleet-street ; and sold by all Booksellers.

CONTENTS.

Letter.
1. What will you new do with the House of Commons?
2. What will you do with Ireland, and particularly with the Churel:

of Ireland ?
3. What will you do wth the Church and the Dissenters in England?
4. On the Destructive Effects of Funds, and of Paper Money in

England, France, and America.
5. What will you do with the Tax-eaters, called Pensioners, sine-
curists, Grantees, Retired-allowance People, Half-pay People;
Secret-service People, and the like ?
6. What will you do with the Crown Lands, and with the Army,
and especially with regard to the Punishments in the Army ?
Farewell Letter.
LEGACY TO PARSONS, bound, Is. 6d.
LEGACY TO LABOURERS, bound, Is. 4d.

The Select Committee appointed to inquire into the best
meaus of extending a knowledge of the arts and of the prin-
ciples of design among the people (especially the manufac-
turing population) of the country ; also to inquire into the
constitution, management, and effects of institutions con-
nected with the arts ; and to wham several returns to the
House of Commons relating to the cultivation of the arts
in foreign countries were referred ; and who were empow-
ered to report the minutes of the evidence taken before
them to the House, have examined the matters referred to
them, and have agreed to the following
.report :
The Committee have pursued (amid frequent interrup-
tions, caused by the numerous private Bills introduced in
the present session) the inquiry left unfinished by them in
the last Session of Parliament.

In taking a general view of the subject before them the
Committee advert with regret to the inference they are
obliged to draw from the testimony they have received,
that, from the highest branches of poetical design down to
the lowest connection between design and manufactures, the
arts have received little encouragement in this country.
The want of instruction in design among our industrious
population, the absence of public and freely open galleries,
containing 'approved specimens of art, the fact that only
recently a National Gallery has even been commenced
among us, have all combined strongly to impress this con-
viction on the minds of the .members of the Committee.

In many despotic countries far more development has been
given to genius, and greater encouragement to industry,
by a more liberal diffusion of the enlightening influence of
the arts. Yet, to us, a peculiarly manufacturing nation,
the connection between art and 'manufactures is most im-
portant ; and for this merely economical reason (were there
no higher motive) it equally imports us to encourage art in
its loftier attributes, since i t is admitted that the cultiva-

tiou of the more exalted branches of design tends to ad-
vance the humblest pursuits of industry, while the connec-
tion of art with manufacture has often developed the ge-
nius of the greatest masters in design.
The want of instruction experienced by our workmen in
the arts, is strongly adverted to by many witnesses. This
deficiency is said to be particularly manifest i❑ that branch
of our industry which is commonly called the fancy trade ;
more especially in the silk trade ; and most of all, probably
tin he ribbon manufacture. Mr. Martin, the celebrated
painter, complains of the want of correct design in the china
trade ; Mr. Papworth,, an eminent architect, of its absence
in the interior decorative architecture of our houses, and
in furniture. Hence the adoption of the designs of the era
of Louis XV.; commonly dignified with the name of Louis
XIV., a style inferior of taste, and easy of execution.
To a similar want of enlightened information in art Mr.
Cockerell attributes the prevailing fashion for what is called
Elizabethan architecture, a style which, whatever may be
the occasional excellences of its execution, is undoubtedly
of spurious origin.
This scanty supply of instruction is the more to be la-
mented, because it appears that there exists among the
enterprising and laborious classes of our country an earnest
desire for information in the arts. To this fact Mr. Howel,
one of the factory inspectors, has borne ample testimony.
Mr. Morrison, a Member of the House of Commons, has
given evidence to' the same effect. The ardour for infor-
mation is apparent in Birmingham, Sheffield, and in Lon-
don ; and the manufacturing workmen in the neighbour-
hood of Coventry have (to their great honour) specifically
petitioned the House of Commons for instruction in design.
It has too frequently, if not uniformly, occurred that the
witnesses consulted by the committee have felt themselves
compelled to draw a comparison more favourable (in the
mater of design) to our foreign rival!, and especially to the
French,. than could have been desired either by the com-
mittee or the witnesses.

The Committee were anxious to investigate the pervad-
ing cause which seemed to justify this conclusion. It ap-
pears that the great advantage which foreign manufacturing
artists possess over those of Great Britain consists in the
greater extension of art throughout the mass of society
abroad. Art is comparatively dear in England. In France
it is cheap, because it is generally diffused. In England a
wealthy manufacturer has
,no difficulty in procuring supe-
rior designs. Our affluent silversmiths have called to their
aid the genius of Flaxman and of Stothard.- But the ma-
nufacturer of cheap plate and inferior jewellery cannot pro-
cure designs equal to those of France, without incurring an
expense disproportioned to the value of the article on which
his labour is employed.
According to the evidence of M. Guillotte, a maker of
Jacquard looms (a gentleman who does the fullest justice to
the English manufacturers), a French capitalist employs
three or four artists, where, England one artist would
supply eight or ten manufacturers. This is exemplified in
the process called by the Erench the raise en carte, or the
practical transfer of the pattern to the fabric into which it
is to be wrought. It appears that in England the designer
of the pattern and the person who applies it to the manu-
facture are distinct persons. In France the workman is
himself the artist. _ _ .

The French have long been celebrated for their attention
to design in the manufactures. Their zeal in this pursuit is
nowhere more manifest than in their recent prosecution cf

. .
the shawl trade—in the introduction both of the material
and pattern of the Cachmere shawl, by M. Ternaux, and in
the later investigation of M. Coudcr. M. Couder has es-
tablished a school for shawl designs at Paris ; he has suc-
ceeded in tracing the original designs on the shawls of
Cachmere through all the imperfections of the native ma-
nufacturer, and supplied his country with the genuine
pattern.
Much importance has justly been attributed to the
schools of design so generally diffuied through France.
These schools (in number about eighty) are superintended
by the Government. The free, open, and popular system
of -instruction (prevalent in France since the days of Col-
bert), and the extreme accessibility of their museums, libra-
ries and exhibitions, have greatly tended to the diffusion of
a love of art, as well as of literature, among the poorer
classes of the French. The testimony of Dr. Bowring,
111. P., on this subject, will be consulted with interest and
advantage.
According to the evidence of a distinguished foreigner,
Dr. Wnagen, the intelligent Administration of Prussia has
felt the necessity of paying great attention to the instruc-
tion of the Prussian manufactures in art. The description
of the " Gewerb Institut," at Berlin, which was founded
with this view, will be read with interest in the evidence of
Dr. Waagen. It appears that a constant correspondence
is maintained between this institution and the more distant
local Governments and local manufacturers. In Bavaria
(now the classic country of the arts) there are thirty-three
schools of design. Outline drawing, to a considerable ex-
, tent, forms an element in the system of national education.
The Committee intended to have laid before the House
returns received through the medium of the Foreign Office,
explanatory of the different schools and institutions con-
nected with the arts in foreign countries. The non-
arrival of the returns from France and from Prussia has
caused the production of these documents to be postponed

to a future session.
In our own country, manufacturing artists have been
greatly indebted to such institutions as the Board of Trus-
tees in Edinburgh, and the Royal Society in Dublin (the
latter of which has this year come under the consideration
of another Committee of the House of Commons). In
England the rising Institute of British Architects promisas
great advantage to our manufacturers, and the more ma-
tured Mechanics' Institutions have disseminated much va-
luable instruction in the arts. The reports of the Mecha-
nics' Institutes of Glasgow, Manchester, and Coventry in-
dicate, in the present year, the awakened attention of the
inhabitants of those great towns to the importance of edu-
cation in design.
His Majesty's Government has this year, for the fast
time, proposed a vote in the Estimates for the establish-
ment of a Normal School of Design.
It appears to the Committee that, in the formation of
such an institution, not mere theoretical instruction only,
but the direct practical application of the arts to manufac-
tures ought to be deemed an essential element. In this
respect local schools, where the arts reside, as it were, with
the manufacture to which they are devoted, appear to pos-
sess many practical advantages. In such situations it is
probable that the arts will eventually strike root and vege-
tate with vigour. But if a more central system be adopted
the inventive power of the artist ought equally to be
brought to bear on the special manufacture which he is
destined hereafter to pursue. This principle is judiciously
adopted in the Gewerb institution at Berlin, in which, after
one year of general instruction in art, the pupil selects a
branch of manufacture as his trade, and passes two years
in the
practical application of art to the peculiar manu-
facture which he has chosen. Unless the arts and menu-
facturesbe practically combined, the unsuccessild aspirants
after the higher branches of the arts will be infinitely multi-
plied, and the deficiency of manufacturing artists will no: be
supplied.
Perhaps the Government would most judiciously inter-
pose not only by creating a normal school, but by applying
to local institutions the species of assistance now oxtended
to the building of school houses. It is worthy of conside-
ration whether, if satisfactory evidence were given, that
the local residents or municipalities would supply a certain
portion of the expense ; contributions in aid only might not
be judiciously supplied by Government.. But the interposi-
tion of the Government should not extend to interference ;
it should aim at the development and extension of art ;. but
it should neither control its action nor force its cultivation.
The same system might probably be beneficially extended
to the formation of open public galleries or museums of art
in the various towns willing to undertake a certain share in
the foundation, and to continue the maintenance of such
establishments. In nothin,,- have foreign countries possessed
a greater advantage over Great Britain than in their nume-