The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-24 00:00:00

THE SUrN, LO N DON, WEDNESDA

is unwilling to take the collar himself, and I am not sure
than, he is far wrong in that determination. (Renewed
laughter.) But as a country gentleman and a spirited
farmer, who has been carrying improvements almost to
tile top of Saddleback, I know no one who, as a gentle-
maa and a magistrate, au agriculturist and a lan4lord, is
so deserving of every mark of respect as the gentleman
who now fills the chair. (Cheers.) I have infinite plea-
sure in proposing his health in a bumper, and, as a far-
mer and an old stager, to give. it as the Jockey of Nor-
folk would have given it. (Cheers and laughter.)
The CHAIRMAN responded, observing that his agricul-
tural ambition had not led him quite to the heights of
Saddleback, as he had been timely deterred from such a
purpose by the unsuccessful attempts of Mr. Calvert to
~ro.v oats on the top of Skiddaw.
Sir JOHN MAXWELL, in proposing " The Mayor and
C:rporation of Carlisle," observed that Sir James Gra-
ham, pursuing the sentiment of Montesquieu—that the
prosperity of agriculture was not so much dependent on
the fertility of the soil as upon the freedom of the pe-ple,
had remarked that he was not particularly anxious that
the Ru.sians should attain to freedom. Now ho (Sir
John) supposed that should be the very reason why the
people ought to be free, and for his own part be was not
affected by the dread which seemed to be felt by the
right honourable baronet.
The MAYOR responded.

The CHAIRMAN then called for a bumper toast to
the "Success of the East Cumberland Agricultural
Society." He was quite sure so long as the Carlisle
society, composed of its present ingredients, con-
tinued to show the improvements which had been
exhibited that day it would go on and prosper. Now
that the war was at an end, a time of trial which bad
been endured with great patience and fortitude by
the nation, we ought to feel thankful that there was
such an abundance, and correspondingly grateful to
those who had been influential in producing that abund-
ance. Sme weeks ago the fall of a few showers of rain
almost produced a crisis in the money market, and he
Was sure that scarcely any amount of commercial failures
would produce so much alarm and distress as anything
like the prospect of a bad harvest in this country. With
such facts before them, the exertions of agricultural
societies to produce a greater'amount of food ought to be
duly acknowledged, and if a little additional profit ac-
crued to the cultivator by his increased skill and indus-
try, through the medium of these societies, the nation at
large would not begrudge it. (Hear.)
Mr. PONALD, the secretary, responded.
Mr. P. 13. HOWARD proposed "The Judges and In-
spectors of Turnips."
Mr. NICHOLSON responded, and, referring to Sir J.
Graham's remarks with regard to flax, he said it would
be a great benefit to the farmers if they adopted his re-
commendation ; mentioning the fact which had come
under his observation that he had seen receipts for
money paid for oilcake by a Lincolnshire proprietor,
amounting to no less than 3,0001 for one year.
02ptain JAMES proposed " The Successful .Candi-
dates," and coupled the toast with the name of Sir J.
Graham, who had gained the first prize in the class of
Galloway cattle.
Sir J. GRAHAM—I certainly am ashamed to acknow-
ledge myself Dux on this occasion. With regard to the
Galloway stock, I did not expect to be at the head of the
list, but as my own tenants have run me very hard, I am
unwilling to comment upon the judgment. I have al-
ways bad a very strong opinion that with the exception
of the very best land, Galloway stock is the best adapted
to this county, and ought to be encouraged. As a land-
lord I have done my best to encourage the introduction of
the true Galloway breed from the Ste wartry, and it is not
from any vanity of showing a good animal that I ex-
hibited to-day, but for the purpose of proving to those
who cultivate inferior soils that this species of stock,
when properly bred, possesses both symmetry of
form and excellence of quality, and can be made
profitable to the farmer who breeds them. Of course
I do not pretend to say that they are nearly so good as
the shorthorns, but they possess peculiar fitness for this
climate and soil. (Hear.) So far as I am personally
concerned, it is matter of gratification to me that my
animal has received the approbation of the meeting.
Mr. BIBILETT responded to the same toast.
Sir J. MAXWELL proposed the " Unsuccessful Candi-
dates,," concluding by promising the Mayor of Carlisle
to buy. all the refuse of the city, if his worship would
only hit. upon some plan of deodorising and conveying it
to- Sprin'sgkell by railway.
After a few other toasts,
Sir J. GOA.HAM closed the proceedings by proposing
the " Labouri.ng Classes," speaking of them in the highest
terms, and espet'ially remarking upon the skill and trust-
worthy character of the Cumberland labourer.

take to be this, that a healthy organisation, well developed,
will gain in every direction by whatever it gains in
one. In the physiml part of our nature the healthy
body and the healthy brain are more likely at least to go
together than either of them with the reverse. And
e) it is with the mind and the moral sense ; when the eyes
of the intellect aro opened, and imagination is summoned
to fulfil her legitimate function—when the awful vastness
of the universe appears, and the wonderful mechanism of
man is unveiled, and the not less wonderful system of
moral checks and counterchecks by which the fabric of
society is rendered self-sustaining, strikes full and clear
upon the view, the mere fact of familiarity with ideas
so high and so wide-reaching produces a frame of mind in-
compatible with the taking pleasure in those low and sen-
sual and degrading pursuits which constitute the bulk of
immorality as it exists in England. (Hear, hear, and ap-
plause.) But there is another point of view in which
these institutions may be considered, and one to which I
attach great importance. Recollect what modern society
is. Recollect what modern labour is. We bring together
men in masses ; we employ them in mechanical pursuits.
The very perfection of the work done—the cause of that
perfection, division of labour, carried to the highest point
—tends to render occupation more and more monotonous ;
so that the intellect, craving stimulus, asking for variety,
is starved. For, to an active brain, intellectual inaction
—the want of subjects for thought—is quite as painful as
to the habitually inert temperament is the unaccustomed
toil of thought. What, then, I ask, becomes of the vast
masses of intelligent men and women whom we congregate
in these towns? What are our national amusements?
None—or next to none. Even the simplest of all pleasures,
the enjoyment of natural beauty, is rarely possible. The
leisure hours here fall mostly at night, when out-door
pleasures are inappropriate, even if the neighbourhood
of our towns afforded more facilities for such pleasures
than they do. (Hear.) We want, then, besides teaching
for those who will be instructed, rational amusements for
those who only desire to be interested. (Cheers.) I am not
ashamed of putting that prominently forward as an object
which we ought to keep in view. Health is weakened,
disease generated, life shortened, by the depression of spirits
which follows upon an unstimulated existence. Men die
for want of cheerfulness, as plants die for want of light.
(Hear, hear.) That is a fact to which you may get medi-
cal testimony in plenty; and it is to this very difficulty •f
finding pleasures—a difficulty arising in part out of the ac-
cidents of our social state, in part out of the grave, earnest,
energetic, reflective, but rather sombre east of mind which
for many centuries has distinguished the people of this na-

tion—that I ascribe the habit of excessive social indul-
gence which is still the principal reproach upon our na-
tional morals and manners. (Hoar.) I affirm, then, that
to every point of view intellectual, moral, even sanitary
'institutions, such as this is intended to be—partly social,
partly literary, useful to the few who study in earnest, at-
tractive to the many whose chief aim is amusement—have
in both those cr.paci ties a real and substantial value. (Hear.)
Your lectures, your reading rooms, your evening classes,
your lending library—for that essential element of popular
usefulness I hope it is not proposed to omit—will each
draw to you subscribers, each probably subscribers of a
different class. The establishment of an athenmum, a ly-
ceum, an institute, call it which you will, in every large
town of England is no longer a mere luxury which may be
enjoyed or dispensed with at pleasure, but has become an
essential and integral part of our social organisation. I
know all that has been and may be said against these
institutions; and it is possible that their actual results
may disappoint unreasonable expectations on the one hand
as they have dispelled worthy fears on the other. But I
deny in toto what is sometimes affirmed,—that the experi-
ment of their establishment has been hitherto a failure.
(Hear, hear). Bear in mind that it is only of late years
that the prejudices once entertained sgaisst them have
been overcome, and that they have ceased to bear a
distinctively party character. Bear in mind that only
within the last few years has there issued from the
press that vastness of cheap and valuable publications
which have so much facilitated the formation of
provincial libraries. Remember too, that
while churches, schools, colleges, and hospitals
are endowed, institutes have been almost universally felt
to live from hand to mouth with little or no capital in re-
serve, dependent for their very existence upon every tem-
porary fluctuation of popularity. (Hear, hear.) Recollect
lastly, that if official statistics may be trusted (and the
private experience of most of us will, I believe, confirm
them), school attendance in England is only one-half of
what it should be in order to give every young person
growing up a fair elementary training. Under these dis-
advantages, with prejudices to combat, with inadequate
means, with no permanent funds, and with only one-half
the people prepared to receive their teaching, these lite-

rary institutions have increased until they now number
more than 800, and new ones are being founded daily. In
my belief, their sphere of action admits of vast enlarge-
ment. I hold that they are destined to perform, as ro-
g trds the more numerous class of society, the same func•
tions as these which the universities discharge towards
the wealthier. They combine two advantages of which it
is scarcely possible to over-estimate the value—first, that
members of every religious denomination meet here upon
' equal terms; next, that they start unencumbered with
traditions; and taking as their point of departure the
educational ideas not of any former, but of the present age.
Here, gentlemen, let me express a hope that you will not
rest content with what has been or is being done—not even
with the success and progress of this institution—but that

you will couple with it, either as part of the same esta-
blishment or separately under the act of Parliament, a

free, or nearly free, library for the use of the 10 ),000 per-
sons who inhabit this town and its neighbourhood. Man-
chester, Salford, Liverpool, Bolton, even Warrington, have
set you the example. (Cheers.) Out of 18 places where
it has been proposed to put the act in force it has been
carried in 13; and having watched the movement dating
four years I can bear witness that, though difficulties are
often made about the setting up of a free library, no instance
has occurred within my knowledge where, one having been
established, it has failed to command popular support, or to
answer the purpose of its establishment. (Hear.) If, as
has been the case in some places, a rate bo objected to, the
thing may be done by private means. A capital of 2,001.
will give, at the lowest estimate, a collection of 10,000
volumes to begin with, and 1,000 subscribers of only 49,
yearly will supply an income amply sufficient to defray all
necessary expenses. But a rate-supported library is pre-
ferable, first, because in that case alone can it be absolutely
free; secondly, because that mode of support gives to it a
more public and popular character. Next comes the ques-
tion—when you have got your athenmurn, what is it there
intended to teach ? That is a vast subject, and one which,
in deference to your time, I shall touch on in the shortest
possible manner. First, I thick it is desirable that intel-
lectual competition should be stimulated in every possible
manner ; and I heard, therefore, with peculiar pleasure
some words which fell from the president of the institutio❑
this morning, as to the propriety of establishing-examina-
tions and rewarding efficiency with prizes. (Hear, hear.)
What is read with some definite and tangible end is view,
is apt to be more carefully studied and longer remembered
than nLA is read in a vague and general idea of improve-
ment. (Hear.) Next, I hold that a wide latitude should
be given to in tividual taste. What a man wishes to learn
ha will learn better, more quickly, and with more profit
to himself than what he undertakes to learn merely upon
the recommendation of others, even though the latter may
be more generally useful. Subject to this qualification, I
will mention those topics which seem most likely to be of
service. I see in a prospectus which has been issued mention
of French classes and others for the teaching of languages.
I am far from depreciating such studies; their interest is
great, their use is great even for those who stay at home,
much more for those who travel ; but where time and
opportunity are limited, and where no special inducement
exists, I doubt whether the acquiring of languages is the
most necessary or profitable Iranch of knowledge. Words,
after all, are only vehicles of thought ; the stores of thought
accumulated in our own tongue are already immense ; and
if much of life be passed in that which is rather prepara-
tion for study than study itself, little time may remain to
complete the building for which such wide and ample foun-

datiOns have been laid. It seems to me—iput remember

that I give my opinions on these subjects with the utmost
deference—that the foundation of a complete and rational
education lies in the knowledge of natural laws, as deduced
from recorded facts ; a knowledge, first, of those laws by
which the inorganic world is governed—as those which re-
gulate astronomical, geological, and chemical phenomena ;
next, of those laws which control organised existences —a
branch which includes physiology in all its departments ;

lastly, a knowledge of that which, for want of a more re-
cognised term, I must call sociology, embracing the hives
tigation of social problems, and enabling us to trace the
paths along which human action has moved in all countries
and ages. I cannot go far into these topics here, or else I
think I could show that the order which I have named,
from the study of the simplest structure—inorganic mat-
ter —up to that of the highest and most complex—the hu-
man mind—is no arbitrary progress, but one which Nature
herself dictates and directs. (Hear.) I may be asked what
man, unless solely and professedly a philosopher, can find
leisure for such inquiries ? I reply, it is not necessary to be
au astronomer, a geologist, a chemist, a physiologist, in
order to learn what have been the principal results of human
thought in those departments, or what is their inter-con-
nection one with another. The slow progress of discovery
affords no measure of the time required to appreciate the
results of discovery. It takes ages to make the road which
when made may be travelled over in a few years. (Hoar.)
If interrogated as to the use of such investigations, I would
point out that the two great questions which an intelligent
mind on beginning to reflect naturally puts are these, " What
am I?" and " What is this universe around me ?" To give
au answer, however partial and incomplete, to these queries
has been the effort of the human intellect during more
than 3,000 years, and may be for 3,000 more. (Hear.)
No man is so dull that they do not interest him ; nouo ever
has been or over can be so acute that they do not perplex
and baffle him. (Hear.) In comparison with such reflec-
tions to talk of what we call the practical applications of
science is indeed descending low ; yet these applications—
never the first object, often not in any degree the object of
the philosopher—have doubled the wealth and power of
England, and incalculably lessened the pressure of human
suffering from material causes. In concluding on this head