The Sun.
London, England, 1846-04-17 00:00:00

MORN! N G,

THE BIRMINGHAM ATILENIC
INSTITUTE-
BIRMINGHAM, TUESDAY NIGHT.—The fifth anniver-
sary meeting of the 14irtuinghaua Athenic Institute was
held in the Society's -rooms, Great Charles-street, this
ev, dog. The attendance was quite as numerous as last
, :although the number of distinguished patrons was
tt so great as on the lust eccasion.
Lord J. Manners, M.P., as President of the Institute,
cftilt the head of the table at dinoer shortly after fi+e

e.~r,

o'cl.;ck, and the cloth being ''' laters apologizing
fur their absence were lead from Lord Lyttelton, Sir
John Hanuier, M.P., Mr. Monckton Aiilnes, M.P., Mr.
Sponger. M.P., Mr. Dugdale, M.P., and Mr. Newde-
gate, M.P.
Over the Nobb President's chair were emblazoned the
mottos :—" Mens a:ma in corpore sane)."
" So shall we live,
That every thought and every deed
Mav hold within itself the seed
Of future good and future need."
The Noble PRESIDENT pr. posed the health of "her
Majesty the Queer;," which was vociferously applaud. d,
and at its eonclo.ion the Secretary proceeded to read tt e
report of the Ins,i(ute% Frog: ess (luring the last 3', or,
from which it appeared that there bad been 14 festivals
for cricket matches and various g) mtmstic games and
a

exercise's.
Mr. TAYLOR now rose and said he had great pleasure
.n proposing the health of their Presideet.—(Loud
cheers.) And he did so for one good reason. It was
not one ,f mere formality, of fluttery, or ceremony, bet
lie which he felt convinced wou:d be anprecisted by
every heart in the present company. They oeed him
a debt of love at eratitude which they never could suf-
ficiently repay. —(Che ers.) Ile knew the Noble Lord
bed been put to considerable inconvenience in order to
attend that day ; that was a fact which ought to give
them all the greatest pleasure. They must all recollect
that, upon the last occasion, the Noble Lard had shown
the greatest interest in every minutim relating to the suc-
cess and prosperity of their institute. They would recollect
the Noble L ad accompanying them to Bagley, where all
the dignity of rank was thrown aside, and he became,
as it were, one of them—(Cheers)—how each of them
telt at home with him, and free from that embarrass-
ment which was so generally felt when the higher came
in contact with the lower classes.—(Cheers.) Ile bogged
leave to propose the health of their Noble Preside nt, Lord
John Manners.— (The toast was received with cheers.)
Lord J. MANNERS, in rising to acknowledge the toast,
said, be hardly knew how to fit d words to ecknowledee
the kind and cordial manner in which his health had been
proposed by Mr. Taylor, and received by the company.
For the future, however, he should be more guarded in
his private talk at dinner toble; but he could assure
them, that although that was the last day of hunting in
Leicestershire, had it been the first instead of the last,
he should have felt it his duty, in preference to all
amusements, however much he might be attached to
them, to be present on that occasion.—(Chsers ) His
friend, Mr. Taylor, had alluded to the advantages which
ill classes derived from the festivities like the present;
hut he (Lord J. Manners) might be permitted to say,
that the advantages derivable from such proceedings, in
his opinion, greatly preponderated in fat our of the higher
classes.—(Cheers.) But be that as it might, be (Lend
J. Manner:.) was convinced that one of the greatest evils
of modern society—for the evil was not confined to
England—had teen the gradual sect ranee of the different
classes of society, and anything which brought them
together—anything wiech proved that they had a
common interest as they had a common de-
scent, and afterwards, as he hoped, the same ascent,
must of necessity confer the greatest and most
lasting benefit upon the entire community. The
Noble Lord concluded by saying be had had from the firsts
deep interest in the success of the Athenic Institute of
Birmingham, that interest he shoull continue to feel,
and would by all means in his humble power strive to
improve it.—(Che ere) Ile told them when he last oc-
cupied that chair, that he should have much preferred
that some gentleman of the neighbourhood should fill
the office of president—that he accepted it because no
gentleman of the neighbourhood appeared willing to do
so. He was happy, howeyer, now to state that some
gentle men of the county were ow willi g
n to come ,
among them.—(Cheers.) And so it should be ; for he
thought the duties of the office would be. beet and more
efficiently discharged by some gentleman of more local
importance than himself. Therefore, elthough he then
held the office of president, he hoped seen to be sitting
amongst them, instead of occupying his present position.
He begged leave to thank them for the cordial manner
in which they had received him, and in return to drink
all their good healths.—(Cheers.)
Votes of thanks to the directors, committee, and to
gentlemen who had presented the library with books.
succeeded ; and after each of these compliments followed
a variety of songs by members of the society, amongst
which nay be mentioned " The Brave old Oak," " When
we went Gipsying," &c.
Lord J. MANNERS then spits presented himself, and
was received with great cheering. He commenced by
saying—lt is now more than two years since I had the
pleasure of presiding over your first dinner in this room,
and I think I may have the gratification of sae iug that
during that period the .1 thenic Institute has progressed
and flourished in a way almost equal to the anticipations
and hopes we then indulged in. Public approbation has
been stamped on the general principles which were
enunciated as those of the Institute—opposition and
cavilling have died away, enmity has been changed into
friendship, experience has enabled you to extend some
of the departments, and to curtail others of the Insti-
tute ; and I occupy the chair this evening to preside
over a far mere numerous assembly than was present
here on that former occasion. Well, then, gentlemen,
all honour, I say, to those yeeing working men of Bir-
mingham who dared to be founders of ,uch an institu•
tion, and who dared, against no little obloquy and ruis
representation, to cherish the infant tree which now
gives rest and recreation to so many under its spreading
branches.—(Loud cheers.) I have said obloquy and
misrepresentation, and although they exist no longer,
end I would not willingly say anything here
which might induce an unpleasant reflection else-
where, still I c,.nnot refrain from endeavouring to
find an excuse, if not a reaeon, for their former exist-
ence in Birmingham, and present continuance in many
other parts of the kingdom. The fact is, there are
many excellent people whose knowledge and ideas are
bounded by their own experience, and who dread the
slightest departure from the beaten track they Moe
ever trod, and who mistake all change, whether it be
the renovation of an old custom or the adoption of a
new one, for a revolution; thus, all work and no play
having become the characteristic of modern English in-
dustry, any, the slightest return to those heartier, more
just, more manly, arid especially more English habits
arid customs which acquired for our country the name
of merry England, was, and in many instances still is,
regarded by that very respectable class of modern
critics us a dangerous innovation, subversive of the
morals and industry of the people, and sure, in the long
run, to end in the destruction of Church and State.
Well, then, what should we do under these circum-
siaecese e who felt convinced, on the either hand, that
unless, as wealth among the few was rapidly increasing,
its enjoyment by the marry
increased
also, society was
becoming more and more disorganised;—what were we
who felt thus to de—to sit still under that senseless cla-
mour, and allow the dull machinery of acquisition with-
out a wholesome pause of joyous check to gu grindin
on year after year, paralysing the limbs, cramping
the energies, deadening the affectioes, darkening the
souls of our toiFng millions? No— what have we done?
Why, we have shown without parade without unneces-
sat ily shocking those prejudices I have alluded to, seizing
whatever opport unities were afforded us, that the people
of England, who work so herd and so readily, can stand
the trial of a few dart' holiday in tile course of the year,
that a cricket remelt does not necessatily imply the
bowling down of the pillars of state, and that a village
dance need not end in dancing off the ctown from her
Majesty's head.—(Cheers.) Yes, you have shown this
in Birmingham, and your example has been and is fol-
lowed elsewhere ; and I am sure that to you as well as
to me it is a matter or sincere congratuletion to watch
the gradual dispersicei of those mists of money-getting
prejudice, and the various attempts which are made in
diff, rent parts of the kingdom, to restore to the working
people o' England some small portion of that time to re-
creation which. in other days, was their undoubted
right ; for don't let us suppose that ours is a mere
isolated al teinpt—isalated, nine, d, it was—in its concep-
tion and action ; hut it is only one among a many links
of a gr, at eliain or social progress. Recollect my excellent
friend, Sir John Hamner, at our former r, two years
ago, mentioned what was then going on at liir,gston
upon-Hull, the place represented
on by
in my
fHauouron. .Fofriethe
nd.
shortening of the hours of labour and the (Artier closing if‘
It was a uneven;,, nt then going
shops. Wel', how general has that movement Alice be-
come, and with what general success. The Ten lie urs'
beeersd)eittrhoayte.
Bill,
Factory Bill, defeated as it was in my Opinion on the
most insulting and ludicrous grounds, viz., that the cote-
d, and its sun sink
however, is
in darkness if people in the factories worked only ten
.elsport.—(Cheers.) In the rural
now upon the eve, I b here, of being passed into law.
—(Cheers) yes, you artisans of Birmingham on
this question rightly sympathise with the artisans of'
in
hoursl're e of
England
udday
wio(ucleth
districts, too, a great advance has been made. The may-
pt)i, has bu again erected in. Kent, and wicket. and
manly games are fostered and encouraged, and I look
Manchester acrd Ste
forward, in the course 01 a few weeks, to
festive meeting of three rural villages, who, e
after
the
,service of the church by those who wish it, the
rest of
the day will be spent under the walls of m 3. father's
ensile in manly games and harmless merriment,
and I,do
tot despond of being able in a few
ars to say with
;he poet—
" How often have I blessed the ceming
When toil remitting lent its turn to
And all the village train from labour free-,
Led up their sleets beneath the spreading tree,
W bile many a pasture, circle' in the sha.
The young contending, as the old surveyed " (Cheers.)
Why do I ree r to tnese things? letecauSe t‘ l'
h- 1
emanate from the same source; as your society, and
our
present meeting spring from, because they all form
of the great indignant protest of English nature—chat
r ta..
ht
t
English workmen are machines, and may be treated as
such. But, though I have tip -ken in rather a triumphant
tone, I feel I must not suppose that the battle is
w
and that henceforward all the employers of labour will
vie with each other in providm
g times and meansw of
leisure and recreation fur their labours.—(Hear,
hear )
Political economy has still many abstract votaries; and
it rests mainly with you. and with soeieties like yours,
to show that the sobreety, morals, intelligence, aye,
and
the industry too of the_ people is promoted by a fair
mixture of recreation, 1 esure, and nteuserneres with
their time of toil eine lab our. A day's recreation per.
verted and disgraced by immorality or drunkenness may
do 'much to retard that onward movement which we take
so much pride in contempteing, and give a handle to our
h not singalthoug
opponents; could be more unfair than
to argue, that le cause the people are so unaccustemed to
a holiday that the, misuse it when it is offered them,

APRIL 17,

i P 46.

therefore they are unworthy of it.—(Cheers.) Were
the gentlemen of your society confined to this one object

of providing its in- embers wiih tn:4nly and vigorous re-
creation, I should deem it well worthy the support of
every lover of his country—every one to whom the
frankness and freshness of the old English character is
dear. - (Cheers.) But such is not the case ; the old
Lb man satirist's prayer has furnished you with a motto
for your society—
" Mens sans in corpore SPAtIO;"
and so it ought to be. A sound mind and sound body is
your joint object, and well and wisely, in my opinion,
have you determined on that union, for to those actively
engaged in the pursuits of honourable industry the ad-
dition of literary labour, unless cheered and brightened
by invigorating exercise, cannot but be burdensome and
enervating ; but by this wise tempering of work with
play, and both with intellectual sttt,y, and all under the
mastery of religion, how ennotling b(c ;mes the life of
an English artisan. His is the 11,4;00 soul, the elastic
step, tie contented mind, the cheerful heart. To him

the. manly games and the 'manly literature of his ances-
tors are of.en and accessible, and while enjo) ing the
pure air or gnzieg on the green beauty of some English
.alley, or drinking in " the thoughts that hresthe and
cords that burn " of some Erglish master of song,
then, indeed, may he bless God that his lot has been
cast in a land o: revealed religion, equal laws, ancestral
fame, and sterling qualitie s.—(Ctee et s ) Such it
pleases tee to think is your case. Yours it has
been to wander through the shades where your Shak-
spere learnt to warble his native wood notes wild,
and to enjoy the eff cts or his marvellous genius.
Yours it has been to strain the agile limb in
the classic grounds of Bagley, and gaze on the
scenes that fascinated a Thomson and a Sheestore , while
contending in the games with a Lord-Lie utenant and a
Doctor of Court Law. Well. gentlemen, they may call
us what they please, those dry philosophers, those party
politicians, we will pursue the tenor of our way, lighten-
ing the toil, elevating the tastes, giving vigour and
health to the frames of the working youths of Birmitg-
ham. You on the one hand may be told that the county
gentlemen, the aristocracy of England, are a haughty,
cold-he arted set of oppressors, who study only their own
-interests and pleasure, and care not for the poor; and
we, an the other hand, may be assured that the working
millions of England. unless kept grinding at the mill of
labour, watched by policemen, and d. barred from all
manly and intellectual enjoyments, will tear this ancient
monarchy to pieces, and shiver society to fragments.
But, gent lemen, we will take care to disbelteveboth stories;
we will place confidence in cur fellow Englishmen; we
will look back with pride to the past—to the great deeds
the peasants and peers and merchants of England did in
common; we will take delight in the glorious literature of
other days, which, like the sun, shies upon all; we will
do, to the best of our power, our various duties in
these days of care and fretfulness, and we will look
forward to the future a ith hope and confidence f r our
common country, and with lium!tle reliance on God's
mercy for our hereafter. Away, gentlemen, I would
say, with the cant which would have us believe that all
old feelings are dead, all English sympathies extin,
guished, all natural affections chilled. There is not a
sequestered nook in the lakes of Cumberland, in the
inine, of Cornwall, in the dim, close, hot alleys of Man-
chester or Southwark, in the smoky streets of your own
Birmingham, in which the gallant, trustful, manly.
English spirit is dead. Be it ours, then, to call it forth,
to exercise it, and through it, to carry this tight little
island of ours through all straits, through all dangers ;
and this, gentlemen. rely upon it we can do if we will.
"For times and seasons though they change and customs passaway,
Yet English hearts and English hands will prove old England's sway;
And though our coffers mayn't be filled, as they were wont of yore,
We still have hands to fight, if need, and hearts to help the poor."
The Noble Lord resume d his seat amid loud cheers.
Other toasts were then drank, and the dinner party
did not break up until near eleven o'clock.
A ball succeeded, and the dance was kept up until a
late hour.

THE OREGON QUEsTION.
FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
TIMES.—The proceedings in Congress down to the
close of Match, when the Hibernia sailed from Boston,
have very little of a pacific character, and that little is
purely negative. All that can be said is, that the notice
for the termination of the Oregon has not been given,
and will not be given without considerable deliberation;
and, meanwhile, doubts have sprung up in many quarters
whether the abrogation of the convention is not calcu-
lated to defeat rather th9n to promote the one great ob-
ject of the acquisition of the whole Oregon territory.
Mr. Calhoun's policy of inaction ha% mele converts. It
would assuredly be by far the safest course for the
United States and the most embarrassing to this country,
if it were not in our own power to put an end to the stare
of suspense on our side. The termination of the debate
in Congress on the resolutions is of little importance;
since it is evident that if the notice be not given, on the
ground that a "masterly inactivity" is the only mode
of acquiring a footing for Ameticans in the valley
of the Columbia, the British Cabinet will be bound

by the plainest considerations of interest and duty to
give the notice and terminate the convention in the name
of the Quetn of England. ➢Zr, Palk, however, is fully
resolved not to leave this duty to devolve upon the Eng-
lish Government if he can help it. He not only declare,-
his strong conviction that the notice should be promptly
given ; but he accompanies his r,eommendation, con-
tained in a special message, by the first proposal which
can be construed into an admission of the probability of

nar. We have no disposition to express tither surprise
or displeasure at the declaration of the American Exe-
cutive that an increase of the naval and military force
of the United States is at this time required ; for such

an increase has obviously ecru required ever since Mr.
Polk and his immediate predt censor adopted a line of
policy so well calculated to embroil them with their
neighbours. But 'if Mr. Polk has thought fit to imitate
the language of the Queen's speech and the propo-
sals of the English Government with reniect to
increased means of defence and of warfare, we wish

that be I:ad also adopted the strong expressions which
Irive invariably been used in the official language of
this country—expre.,sions not more strong, however,
then sincere—in tiYour of the settlement of the contro-

very by negotiation. The amount of the proposed in-
crease in the naval and military estimates of the United
States has: not been stated with prk cisi‘rn, A couple of
regiments of sharpshooters, and an addition of ten wen
to each company in the hue, or about 700 men to the

whole arrny, are not very imp,rtant matters in a dis

pute involving a boundless territory, and carried on by
two great States. In the position of Mr. Polk and of
the American Government, to do a little in the way of
defence is worse than to do nothing. The President

must be prepared to call upon Congress to supply the
funds and means of war to an amount equal to the whole
of the present revenue of the Union, or he must by a
prompt negotiation insure the duration of peace. The de-
bate on the resolution for the notice, which has already
lasted for more than six weeks, has, after all, no real bear-

ing on the main question at issue. The sooner the
notice is given. the better for both countries; and we
regret that it did not arrive by this steamer. The state
of the relations between the United States and Mexico

had already had considerable effect on the distribution
of the military resources of Mr. Pollt's Government
rfwo-thirds of the American army are concentrated on
the southern frontie., for the annexation of Texas at
once imposed a fresh duty of great extent on the federal
troops. They appear to have occupied not only the
province, but the disputed territory lying between the
river Nuces and the Rio Bravo del Norte; in this terri-
tory Matamoros is situated, and the last accounts re-
ceived (though not by the way of the United States)
state that the Awericua troops had expelled the Mexi-

can Custom-house officers, and probably got possession
of that place. If so, the two republics are in a state of
war. At the other extremity of the Union, Lord
CA.theart'.s speech at the opening of the Canadian Legis-
lative breathes a hearty spirit of loyalty and confidence,
which will be responded to throughout the North Ame-
rican possessions of the British Crown, as well
as in the mother country. To the most com-
plete confidence in the military and naval power of
Englend, of which such signal proofs have recently
been given in oth, r parts of the glAe, we may justly
add a full reliance on the courage and spirit of the
colonial dependencies et' this great empire. To the
western islands England bus given me freedom of the
negro, to the northern provinces of America the benefits
Of a free, united, and patriotic Government. As long
as the Oregon question r mained in the vague regions of
sophistry and abstraction, the indifference and remote-
ness of this country might give the Ann ricaus an ap-
parent, though unreal advantage. But from the moment.
aat it come* to be dealt with practically, theimmeasura-
ble superiority of the executive powers and resources of

,is country will be instantly inanites ed. Mr. Polk
proposal for an increase of the American forces has a,
once di:prived himself of the pretext that nothing like a
war was contemplated by his Government; it has given
the American people a full warniag of the real effects of
this policy; and it enables us to urge upon the Ministers
of the Crown the imperious necessity of conduct so
prompt and resolute as to bring the whole controversy
to an equitable and honourable termination. We have
far less to apprehend from action than from delay.
ChRONICLE.—Mr. Calhoun is carrying his prin-
ciples against his will. It is clear that his doctrines will
be the winning ones. His very opponents will verify
them. The sine die policy is his object. His object
will be attained. To leave the convention as it is, to
swamp the Oregon and American immigrants, to wait
until.the Columbia be a Mississippi, to watch the birth
ut a New Orleans on the Pacific side, to behold a second
Astoria, to send sea-otter skins to China in American
hett-ms, to hear the old monarchical names of King
George's Sound and Admiralty Inlet exchanged for the
national appellations of Hannegan Harbour or Calhoun
Cut, to compare the Rocky Mountains to the Alps, and
those that cross them •o the Cariatrettians, to make
Clatsop Point a Selsea Bill, and the Sandwich Islands
an Isle of Wight—these nationalitie and the like of
them, form the nationality of Calhoun. We repeat
that he will realise them. F rtunately for England,
the Oregon question is not one that bears pal-
pably upon the great commercial interests of the
nation. If felt much in LiverpoOl, it is comp,-
ratively uninfluential in London. The latitude of
Greenwich is untouched by it. Let then the talk go on.
All it engenders is reaction; and the best proof of British
claims is the American arguments against them. An
ei pleasant notice has to be given in a courteous manner
—a matter no easier for nitfons than for individuals
And here there is as much room for direct opposition in
respect to the principle, as there is for r‘fin,ment in re-
gard to details. At the present moment, whilst me
senator proposes that the notice shall be accompaniedith a qualification in favour of nrgotiation.o:
and compro-
the r
nti,e, another enlarges tipan the on'',sB'" of
mi6e. There are tie!aeies here. 'There are ditpiculsies
ith Mr. Polk. It was a matter ,if surprise to the
. gifted Lord
filet-via of the ri" lingbroke to (*serve the
extent to which he separae dtht geAlt man fr,Tun the
statesman, the inOivithial fry
the iliti.tia n, the man of
rleasure from the Wan . bus•
the loveintriguer
. ues 'a
from the intriguer in politic'', the friend of Pope from the