The Sun.
London, England, 1867-10-03 00:00:00

The Birmingham and Midland Institute.

BIRMINGHAM, Tuesday.

The winter session of the Birmingham and Mid-
land Institute was opened last evening. It is usual
on these occasions for the president for the year to
deliver an " inaugural" address. The Earl of Har-
rowby, Lord Wrottesley, and the late Mr. Schole-
field have successively filled the office. The presi-
dent for this year is Mr. Commissioner Hill, Q.C.,
who is a native of the town, and for a period of a
quarter of a century held the office of Recorder.
The learned gentleman entered the theatre of the
institute accompanied by the Mayor (Mr. Avery),
Mr. Alderman Wiggin, and other of the vice-pre-
sidents, and was most cordially welcomed.
The learned PRESIDENT at the commencement of
his address cited a few sentences from a speech de-
livered by the late Prince Consort in laying the
foundation stone of the building 12 years ago. The
illustrious Prince on that occasion said—" This
work I do not look upon as a simple act of worldly
wisdom on the part of this great town and locality,
but as one of the first public acknowledgments of
a principle which is daily forcing its way among us,
and is destined to play a great and important part
in the future development of this nation and of the
world in general—l mean the introduction of
science and art as the unconscious regulators of pro-
ductive industry." The learned president said that
much as had been done in the direction defined by
the Prince Consort, he was persuaded they felt
acutely that much still remained to be done ; but
effected it assuredly would be, unless he formed a
false estimate of his fellow townsmen. (Applause.)
Reflecting on the immense benefits which must
accrue from their success to the vast and growing
population by whom they were surrounded, he was
led to ask why it was that up to so recent a period
Birmingham remained unprovided with such an
institution ; one which, in this great seat of mul-
tifarious labours—each calling for the application
of science, and not a few demanding for their
successful prosecution artistic skill of no mean
order—he might in the present state of
the commercial world venture to pronounce
essential to the maintenance of their position, if not
to their very existence, as a community? The answer
to this question prompted a further inquiry. Could
they, by reviewing in succession the impediments
which formerly barred all attempts towards their
present enterprise, and which still remained in suffi-
cient numbers and strength most materially to dimi-
nish the rate of progress, discover how those impe-
diments might be removed from their path? And
could they derive encouragement from adverting to
the advantages for carrying on the undertaking ?
In the hope of throwing on these questions some
glimpses of light, however faint or dubious, he had
adopted the topics thus indicated for the subject of
his address. The conditions demanded for the esta-
blishment of the institute were manifold. In the
absence of endowments a large population was ob-
viously necessary to provide the needful revenue. A
sufficient number of inhabitants Birmingham pos-
sessed long before he was born. But a population,
however extensive and however wealthy, would be
prompted to no such enterprise unless it was imbued
with an earnest belief in the importance of education
to the wellbeing of all, high and low—a state of
opinion so lately formed in this country that such of
his audience as were in anywise advanced in years
would not only remember its commencement, but
could revert to a time when the rich and powerful
were as a body hostile to the general diffusion of
knowledge ; while the classes whose wants, intellec-
tual and spiritual, were most to be deplored were
themselves disposed to treat with indifference, if not
with contempt, benefits never partaken either by
them or their forefathers, and of which they could
but imperfectly conceive. " Knowledge is power,"
and the lesson (though not the true lesson) drawn
by the holders of power from the French Revolution
forbade them to share their privileges with the mul-
titude. That portentous event not only widened
the gulf which already separated class from class, an
evil impossible to over-estimate, but divided each
into sections mutually inimical, thereby precluding,
even among the privileged, all thought of combined
action. Hence the capacity of each for works of
improvement, in the value of which there might be
a general concurrence, was not merely limited by
this division of its numbers, but the sections be-
came obstructive one to the other, wasting their time
and dissipating their energy in controversies futile
and irritating to the last degree. The learned gen-
tleman referred to the state of England at the time
of the French Revolution, at the effects produced by
it in this country, and at the Priestley riots which
followed. Recent events (he said) showed that the
volcano of religious animosity, although doubtless
diminished in force, was not utterly spent, but only
reposed in temporary slumber. (Hear.) The years
following the riots of 1791 witnessed various dis-
plays of hostile sentiment. Ia preparation for a
municipal dinner shortly after that event, of which
a member of the powerful and wealthy party op-
posed to French principles bore the cost, the list of
guests accustomed prior to the outbreak to be in-
vited on public occasions had been sedulously cleared
of adverse elements. By inadvertence, however, the
name of Dr. Parr was retained ; and the sturdy
divine, although he must have surmised that he would
be the only representative of his opinions, duly
obeyed the summons. The cloth being drawn, the
chairman proposed, as the doctor no doubt expected,
the toast of " Church and King." Parr instantly
storted to his feet, proclaiming in a stern voice his
dissent. " No, sir," said he ; " I 'will not drink
that toast. It was the cry of Jacobites ; it is the
cry of incendiaries. It means a Church without the
Gospel, and a King above the law !" What was the
effect of this bold utterance except to prove the
courage of the speaker he knew not ; but it was a
rebuke well deserved and well applied. Party con-
flicts were not always so bitter ; they were carried
on by taunt and by jest and by repartee, instead of
the violence of a mob ; and they sometimes assumed
a ludicrous form. When Dr. Croft, the curate of
St. Martin's, was asked whether it was true that he
had said that he would never bury a Dissenter, he
replied, "It is false ; lam ready to bury you all."
The contrast between the state of things at that
time and our present condition presented in a
strong light the facility for the promotion of good
works enjoyed by the present generation as compared
with the obstacles in the way of their predecessors.
Might every omen which pointed to a return of the
old reign of discord prove a false alarm ! (Hear,
bear) One hindrance to the diffusion of know-
ledge he would gladly pass over without comment,
but it was too vast in its proportions and too per-
nicious in its effects to permit of silence. Ile meant
the fatal habit of indulgence in strong drinks, which
still prevailed in appalling magnitude. The mourn-
ful consequences of this habit were undisputed,
however diverse the opinions as to the remedy. He
contented himself, therefore, with most earnestly
pressing upon those who either differed or agreed
with him as to the particular steps required to avail
themselves of their power and influence, directed in
accordance with their own convictions and oppor-
tunities, for the discouragement, if not for the effec-
tual extinction, of this fearful vice. He next came
to speak of that despicable species of competition
in trade which incited the manufacturer, with the
view of underselling his rivals, to deteriorate the
quality of his goods. The temptations to this
offence were, indeed, often so strong that it was
impossible to withhold sympathy from the poorer
classes of tradesmen who yielded to it. Yet the more
carefully the matter was examined, the more inju-
rious to all interests, private and public, would this
miserable system prove to be. Ile should not think
himself justified in stigmatising as dishonest any
depreciation which only reduced quality in exact
proportion to the reduction of price. But the case
was vastly different when the reduction in value
exceeded (and it frequently far exceeded) the re-
duction made to the buyer in price—his consent to
the transaction being the result of his ignorance of
the quality of the article. Sometimes the defect
was in the material, and could only be detected
when the article was brought to the test of actual
use ; at other times the defective part was concealed
inside the article, so that the buyer, however skil-
ful, was liable to deception. But purchasers them-
selves were oftentimes far from blameless. They
yielded without an effort to the temptation offered