The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-21 00:00:00

R. ROEBUC.

EsBOROUGH,

. MIDDLESBOROUGH, THURSDAY.
Last evening a large meeting was held in the
Odd Fellows' Hall, in this town, to commemorate
the opening of the New Mechanics' nail.
E. S. Cayley, Esq., M.P., and Henry Pease, Esq.,
M.P., briefly addressed the meeting.
The Chairman next introduced Mr. Roebuck, who
was received with loud and prolonged applause.
The cheering having subsided, he said—Mr. Chair-
man, ladies, and gentlemen, as I have to speak to a
resolution, I will first ask the secretary to be kind
enough to read it to you for me.
The SECRETARY (Mr. W. Taylor) then read the
resolution, which was as follows :—" That this
meeting rejoices in the success which has attended
the erection of the Middlesborough Mechanics' Hall,
and still encourages the committee to endeavour to
make the institution keep pace with the progres-
sive tendencies of the age, and invites all classes to
give it their cordial support." (Cheers.)
Mr. ROEBUCK then said,—Mr. Chairman, ladies,
and gentlemen, —1 know what a Yorkshire welcome
is, for the fact of the matter is, I ma almost a York-
shireman myself.. But we have now met together
for a great purpose—we are met to celebrate the en-
deavour of a great portion of our countrymen to
forward their own education and the educa-
tion of those around them. A greater object
could not be proposed to any man than that ;
and allow me to tell you, and I think I have
some experience in the matter, that the object
you wish to attain will go further to promote
your own individual happiness than any other
which you can attempt to pursue: There is this
difference between intellectual and mere sensual
pleasure—and recollect these are things you should
set before you—the pleasure derived from the
senses gets nauseating, but that which is derived from
the intellectual never palls. I put the sensual plea-
sure first, because it serves only for the present, and
pleasure is not the result hereafter; but that is not
the case with intellectual pleasure. 'What I would
wish to point out, then, particularly is, that you
have within' our own grasp the means of promot-
ing independently your own happiness. Some time
ago I recollect reading the account of the meeting
of a mechanics' institute, at which a great man pre-
sided and distributed prizes—I speak with un-
feigned sincerity—l mean Mr. Disraeli. (Hear.)
I was both puzzled and struck by an observation of
his upon mechanics' institutes; a subject upon
which, I thought, no man endowed as lie was would
have touched upon. He said the great object which
working men ought to have in view in connection
with these institutes was to raise themselves above
their own condition. Now, my opinion of a me-
chanics' institute is somewhat different. My
opinion of a mechanics' institute is, that it gives
you intelligence and intellectual knowledge, which
is not intended to raise you above your condition,
but make you happy in it. (Cheers.) If you ask
yourselves the difference between these two objects
—it is illimitable. Any one man who hss raised
himself from his former humble condition by intel-
lect and by knowledge is one among many millions.
If you give knowledge to millions you make them
more happy; and therefore your great object should
be, not to raise men above their condition, but to
give them the means of being happy in that sphere
in which they move; and that object, I believe, is
attained by mechanics' institutes. You weanjmen
from that which makes them, I was going to say,
worse than beasts, but that would be a libel upon
creation, for animals never get drunk; and there-
fore I say I use that phrase, it weans them from
the pothouse. That is ono of the objects which
mechanics' institutes ought to have in view. We
want to raise men in their individual condition, and
make eachman the means of his own happiness by
making him the meansef his own enjoyment. Now,
then, there are two views you may take which will
render them a great benefit to society. The one is,
that they will make the man in his individual
sphere a happy man, and will make him, as a
member of society, a more deserving member.
How, then' can they do that Why, as T said be-
fore, by helping him to be the means of his own
instruction. If he goes night after night to the
mechanics' institute, what does he gain ? He gains
knowledge, lie gains instruction, and weans him-
self from indolence and from sensual indulgence out
of doors. He makes himself a good father, a good
son, and a good member of society. By what means
does he do that ? Why, by the instruction which
he gains within these walls. Perhaps there are
few who have known more, or who have had
greater experience in that class of enjoyment,
than myself, because I have it always, and de-
sire no other. I would say this, that intellectual
enjoyment is that which is most comfortable,
and from which mankind can derive more enjoy-
ment than from any other. Two men go abroad.
The one man in walking about sees nothing. He
looks before him, wants to get to the end of his
journey, and sees nothing, and when he gets home
he speaks of it being a very dull road. But here
is another man goes out on the same journey, and
he is a student of geology, botany, or some of the
other sciences ; and every step he takes teaches him
something; he learns a great deal, and every step
he takes is the means of enjoyment. Will some
one follow him home ? I follow them both. The
first goes to his house and says, " This is a very
dull place; that was a very dull journey I had, and
I think I will go to the pothouse," and to the pot-
house he goes. The other mai goes home and
takes down his book ; he finds his wife at home,
his cottage is neat, everything is prepared for his
reception, and in short, ho finds home to be a place
where he can enjoy himself. He takes down his
book, and induces his wife to come and listen to
him. Ido that, and
why should not every
working man ? My wife and daughter listen to
me, and we are mutually benefited. Labour does
not prevent a man from attaining intellectual
power and intellectual knowledge, even though we
work 12 hours a day ; and my honourable friends
behind me will bear me out when I say that we
often work a great deal more—(cheers and laugh-
ter)—and yet we have time to instruct ourselves.
I do not believe that there is that labour now in
this town of Middlesborough, that labour in Eng-
land, to unfit a man at the end of his day's labour
for intellectual enjoyment. I go to bed often
early in the morning, and when I get up there are
letters from all parts of England, Europe, aid the
world. These I have all to go through, and I have
also to read the daily journals to see what is going
on in the world. Then, when Parliament is sitting.
I have often to goon committees, where I have to sit
until four o'clock, when 1 go home to
dinner, and after that often it until two
o'clock in the morning for the sake of honour.
(Applause.) And yet you would think very ill
of me if I did not instruct myself. Well, then, I
say to you working men, do not talk to me about
your labour, for mine is equal to yours. I remem-
ber receiving a deputation of working men some
years ago at Nottingham; they introduced them-
selves as working men. I said, " Well, I am a
working man myself." The spokesman seemed
astonished, but I added, " the only difference be-
tween us is that you make ribbons for women's
bonnets, and I make books for the inside of their
heads." (Cheers and laughter.) Is there, my
friends, anything in a working man's life to prevent
him from acquiring knowledge—the means of in-
tellectual enjoyment, in preference to physical,
which would render him amenable to the great ob-
jects of justice, knowledge, and benevolence, and,
make him different from the mere brute, sunk in
the depths of sensual enjoyment—a drunkard, care-
less of the right, and unworthy to pursue it. 111 ell,
then; air, why do I take the trouble to come a dis-
tance of between 200 and 300 miles to Middles-
borough ? Why, because I think that there is no
cause so great as that of the education of my coun-
trymen. (Cheers.) They have been pleased to
place me in a high position. lam their represen-
tative in Parliament ; but nothing that I can do
there will be a full discharge of the duties imposed
upon me if I do not seek to promote that which
would conduce to the education of my countrymen.
Therefore, when you, sir, spoke to-day of your hum-
ble efforts, and thanked me for coming to aid you,
I said, " Your efforts are not humble, and do not
overrate my coming down, because there is no duty
so great to a man who has been placed in my posi-
tion as that of promoting the education of the peo-
ple." I have great faith in my countrymen, and
when Mr. Cayley spoke of my being a true-hearted
Englishman, ho never spoke a truer word. (Ap-
plause.) It has been my fate to have a wandering
foot ; I have gone over the world, I have seen men
in various climates and in various conditions of life,
and I have returned home a more fortified and stern
Englishman than ever. I do not believe in those
men who calumniate England. Depend upon it, we
are a light to mankind. It is not a vain-glorious
feeling that makes me so,but a strongthorough-going
experience which makes me say that in England
we have that which every man ought to look up to.
We are governed in a way that no other country in
the world is governed, and we set mankind an ex-
ample such as no other people set on the face of the