The Sun.
London, England, 1847-04-10 00:00:00

MOTU/in 2rUlt

LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 1847.

Being the recognised leader of the Young Eng-
landers, Lord JOUN MANNERS is rather naturally re-
garded as a day-dreamer. Every proceeding of his,
whether it be the promise of a statement respecting
the present ccndition of Greece, or the insertion of a
1 lyric in the Oxford and Cambridge Review, is re-
garded by the Dogberries of political life with a
sort of supercilious suspicion. Can there be any as•
tonishment at the ridicule thus cast upon the intended
revivers of " the golden prime" of middle-aged Al-
bion ? There is ample opportunity, no doubt, for
parodying the principles of the gentlemen in white
waistcoats. But it would be indicative of a
total lack of generosity, and of a singular ob-
tuseness of perception, to deny that there is
an earnest philanthropy at the bottom of their
fine-spun theory, a yearning for what Mr.
DISRAELI calls a " theocratic equality." Among the
most brilliant evidences of this sub-current of bene-
volence must be considered the Birmingham Athenic
Institute. Although we have already occasionally
referred to this establishment in terms of high
eulogium, we consider it incumbent upon us to corn
ment upon the fifth anniversary of its foundation,
which was celebrated on Wednesday evening, with be-
coming ardour and cordiality. Much as we may other-
wise differ in opinion from the Noble President and
his coadjutors, it would be an erroneous expression of
our sentiments to speak otherwise than in language of
profound respect of their practical exertions to in-
spire a feeling of brotherly affection among all
classes of the community. The Birmingham Athenic
Institute is, to our thinking, the model of
a system of social federation which it were ad-
visable to carry into operation throughout the various
municipalities of the United Kingdom. Under the
auspices of such an institution the intellects of the
neglected artizans are cultivated and developed during
their salutary leisure, their hearts are opened to a
consciousness of their own innate capacities for good,
their limbs are recreated by agreeable and bracing
pastimes, their very blood is purified by the inhala-
tion of purer air than is generally respirable in the
workshop, and they become impressed at once with
the majestic power of knowledge, and the lovely
influences of morality. From being merely the
" vile mechanicals" of the state they are elevated to a
position commensurate in some measure with their
divine origin. From an existence which appears to
be comprised in the refrain of the popular poet—
'. Ever to toil,
Ever to moil,
That is your social charter !"

from this barren and stunting drudgery the artizan
becomes promoted under the shelter of these Athenic
Institutes to a higher grade in society, to a grade com-
patable with his unnourished aspirations, to a grade on a
par with his natural and tardily-recognised rights. The
encouragement afforded to honest industry by such
associations is astonishing in its immediate results,
and the effects of that encouragement are of an irre-
fragable permanence. It imparts vigour to the, frame,
serenity to the disposition, inquisitiveness to the mind,
and universal good-will, in terra par hominibus. We are
not delineating the hypothetical fancies of a one• eyed
philosopher of the flying-islands. We are enume-
rating the advantages which have actually accrued to
the working men of Birmingham from the aid of the
Athenic Institute. Supposing, however, the picture
werok flatteringly over-coloured, supposing the bene-
fits elerivable from associations of this nature were
scarcely so remarkable as those we have mentioned,
we should still feel ourselves necessitated to com-
mend them as the offspring of a gentle generosity,
and as establishments calculated to enhance the
moral, intellectual, and corporeal strength of the em-
pire. It is not, moreover, in its direct operation upon
individual localities that this system of combining
study with amusement is alone admirable ; it is
more especidly so in its ulterior results
upon various legislative efforts for the improvement
of the multitude. Besides the nutritious banquets
prepared for the surrounding denizens of Birming-
ham, or wherever else they may be situated, these
Athenic Institutes afford food for the nourishment of
the collective million. As the Welsh parson saith in
SHAICSPERD--

" There be pippins and cheese to come yet !"

Upon the construction of public baths and wash-
houses, upon the railing in of parks and pleasure-
grounds, upon the advancement of street architecture,
upon the progress of the educational question, and
upon the application of a well-digested sanatory
system, establishments of this character directly and
materially act. In this respect we regard them as at
once preservative and progressive • preservative of
whatever might have formerly rendered this "merrie
old England," and progressive towards whatever can
effect the spiritual and bodily exaltation of the people.
Besides, it is undeniable that harm can by no means
arise from associations so peculiarly innocent ; it is
scarcely probable that the harmony of races should
be destroyed by the contentions of cricket, that the
liberties of the subject should be injuriously affected
by the rod of the scientific lecturer, or that civilisa-
tion should in any particular be retarded by the
gyrations of the polka.