The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-04 00:00:00

MR. BRIGHT, M.P., ON POPULAR

EDUCA7ION.

Last evening, the y rizes awarded in the classes connected
with the Rochdale Working Men's Education Institute
were distributed by Mr. John Bright, M.P., in the Public
Hall. The Mayor (J. T. Pagan, Esq.) presided.
The MAYOR, introducing Mr. Bright to the meeting, al-
luded to a speech made by the hon. gentleman many years
ago, and stated that the remarks which then fell from the
lips of Mr. Bright had a considerable effect in stimulating
him to exertion.

Mr. BRIGHT, who was loudly cheered said : —The Mayor
has put me into a great difficulty, because he has re-
minded me of a speech which I had entirely forgotten,
but which appears to have had some good effect upon
his mind ; and he challenges me to be as successful to-
night. (Laughter.) I, as many who are hero know,
probably, am expected to take rather a prominent part
to-morrow night in this hall. It has been somewhat of an
inconvenience to me to come down hero to-night at all; but I
was requested to come for the purpose of giving the prizes
awarded to scholars in this institution, and I was not wil-
ling to absent myself from a duty which, if it involves some
responsibility, at any rate confers great pleasure. I am
nether ashamed to say that until a very short time ago 1
had not even heard of the existence of this institution, It
argues a great deal fcr my neglect of what is going on in
the town in which I live, and shows how much I have been
absorbed in matters connected rather with affairs at a dis-
tance. But when some gentlemen called on me and asked
me to come to this meeting, I put several questions with re-
gard to their institution, and I found that there were
about it features which had peculiar attractions to me.
I found, for example, that the institution was a very
modest one—that it was not at all pretentious ; not at all
ostentatious; that it was modest and humble, but earnest
and useful in its character. I found further that to a very
large extent it was self-supporting, and self-working; that
it did not depend upon great lists of patrons, nor did it
come before the public for aay very considerable subscrip-
tions ; but that there were payments from those who re-
ceived its benefits, and that those payments went a consi-
derable way towards defraying its expenses. (Hear, hear.)
I found further that the institution proposed to give 'teeny
useful instruction, adapted to the class of persons who are
connected with it ; that it did not aspire immediately
to make persons wise in classical literature and ab •
struso science, but that it contented itself at present with
those things which Mr. Molesworth has so well described
as forming the bases and only fouadationof any considerable
progress in education—reading, writing, and arithmetic,
grammar, and geography. Well, I have great respect for
all those, except for grammar. (Laughter.) If there is
any lad here who is engaged in learning grammar, I will
undertake to say that he will say it is the very driest and
most unpleasant study that anybody ever put himself to.
(Laughter.) When I was at school, which is a long time
ago, we learned a grammar written by a gentleman who
was, I believe, a member of the religious society to which I
belong, and who was a native of the United States of
America—Lindley Murray. Lindley Murray's grammar
had a great reputation then, and for anything I know has
so yet ; but if it has, 1 pity the lads that have to learn if
as I had to learn it—(laughter)--for as far as I recollect
—and no doubt it is but a cloudy sort of recollection
that I have—there were no end of ru'cs and no end of
examples—rules within rules and exceptions of all kinds ;
and I have now a feeling of the utter confusion of my
mind in endeavouring to understand all the rules of
Lindley Murray's Grammar. (Laughter.) My opinion
is that grammar may be very easily learned without all
that, and that it is very difficult for any per: on who reads
well-written books, and understands them, not to acquire a
very competent knowledge of grammar without finding it
necessary to learn all the rules in that celebrated but un-
happy book. (Laughter.) But leaving grammar, and com-
ing to reading, and writing, and arithmetic, and geography,
although they are what may be called " the basis of educa-
tion," yet if a man can read well, and write well, and un-
derstands figures well, there is no kind of position almost,
that is not special and scientific, which ho is not competent
to fill. And reading now is a different thing from what it
was a few years ago. In the days of our fathers and grand-
fathers, if a man did learn to read, there was comparatively
very little for him to read. Books were far more expensive
—the circle of literature was far more contracted—a man had
not the wide and varied field of interest, instruction, and de-
light, which is now placed before us by the wonders of type
and the printing press. If a man in those days could wi ito, it
was not easy to carry on correspondence with friends at a
distance, for those whose means were very limited ; for the
price of postage was very considerable. I believe that the
number of letters has increased about sevenfold in this
country since the time when the postage was reduced to
one penny; and there can be no doubt that if the working
classes of this country were as capable of writing as they
ought to be, the number of letters in all probability
would be double and treble what it is. For whereas you find
in the houses of many persons, the postman every morning
deposits a handful of letters—and I hope that this may
hardly or never happen to any of you, for I ecarcelse know
any greater inconvenience, seeing that letters have gene-
rally to be answered—(laughter)—but if he brought only a
letter a week to the houses of all the working men of this
country, from children, or parents, or brothers, sisters, or
friends at a distance, it wot.ld be an object of great in-
terest to them, and I have no doubt that the total number
of letters passing through the post would be doubled. With
regard to arithmetic, everybody knows that there is nothing
that is a greater stumbling block to any working man who
has otherwise a chance of improving his position, than the
fact that he does not know figures and cannot do the sim-
plest sum. It is a constant difficulty to those who have
mills or workshops, and a large number of persons in their
employment : they want an overlooker, or to some office
filling with 55., 10s. or 15s. a week more wages than the
ordinary run of the place ; and I have known many a man
who might have filled such a situation and improved his
position wonderfully in the world, if he had only had a
moderate knowledge of the science of arithmetic. (Hear,
hear.) Then I come to the question of geography. That
is not so essential, but it is calculated to give equal plea-
sure with the others. lam sorry to say that of late years peo-
ple have learned a great deal of geography by the disastrous
conflicts that have been going on in various parts of the
world. We learned a great deal a few years ago of Turkey
and of some parts of Russia, during the Russian war ; a
year or two ago we learned a great deal about Italy, be-
cause there was an Italian war; and I suppose now people
are learning a good deal about America, on account of the
calamitous events which are taking place there. But there
is one other point in which geography is of great interest to
men in this country—and that is, with regard to the ques-
tion of emigration. I want no man t ) cross the ocean and
establish himself in another land who finds a path open to
him here; but millions have left this country, and have left
other parts of Europe, and have found their position
greatly improved. Many have gone in total ignorance.
They have put themselves on hoard of ship, they paid their
passage money, and were transported they knew not to what
point of the compass; but they landed in Canada, or in the
United States, or in Australia, and probably have done ex-
ceedingly well. But it is of great consequence that working
men should know something of the geography and the
condition of their own country, as well as that of countries
abroad. During the last two or three years, as you all
know, in this neighbourhood labour has been extremely
scarce—wages, as compared with 20 years ago, have been
very high, but it has been extremely difficult to get any
work done, or to keep machinery going. But at the very
same time there aro multitudes of people in the south of
England, strong labouring men, fathers of families, work-
ing all day in the open air on a farm, and getting their Os.
or 12s. a week, and with their children getting almost no -
thing. If men down in one of these counties would know
accurately where Lancashire was and where Yorkshire
was, very likely some of them might find their way here
doing no harm to the population here, but doing
great good to the population he might leave, because if
there were rather less labour than there is, wages there
in all probability would rise, and there would be some
greater equality between the condition of labour in
, various parts of the country. Going on with this institu-
tion. I suppose that modest and humble as it is, it has a
little ambition in it, and aspires to something more. I sus-
pect that there is in this institution probably the germ of
what may hereafter become a respectable and useful
Mechanics' Institution for this town. (Hear.) In Hud-
dersfield, in Wakefield, and in many other towns in this
district, there are admirable institutions of that kind. About
three months ago I was passing through Haslingden, and
seeing a very commodious and handsome building, I ven-
tured in. I found very soon the person who had the manage-
ment of it, and he introduced me to the whole affair. He
explained to me the classes that existed; he showed use
their reading room, their maps, and everything else; so that
they have in Haslingden, with far less of po,eulation and
of wealth than we have here, an admirable institution, far
exceeding anything of the kind that to my knowledge has
ever existed in this town. I d' not see any reason why in
this town we should not have an institution as good as
that of any other town (hear, hear) and perhaps
when those calamitous and uncomfortable times which
we are now just wading through, or which we are entering
int), shall have passed away, there may be more spirit on
the part of those who can give, and by some combined and
general effort we may do something for our town in this
respect. (Applause.) But I would not have anybody to
suppose that we are actually in a state of darkness, because
that would be a great mistake (Hear, hear) There is
one institution in this town which, as you know, has done
a great deal in the way, not so much of the oducatio of the
young, as in providing reading and the means of informa-
tion for those who are grown up—l allude to the reading.
rooms opened by the Co-operative Society, commonly
called the " The Store." About two months ago, a gentle-
man was down here from London. He is engaged in one of
the Government offices, and has taken a great interest in so-
operative societies. He came over to Rochdale, saw me, and
asked me if I would take him and show him what had
been done here in respect to these societies. We went to
the shop in T ad lane, and amongst other places we i
then•
spected the reading room and library. I forget no‘v
number of their books, but it is something considerabie
3,000 or 4,000. But there was on the wall
with a list of all the newspapers,acard
mag hgazaianeish,greviews, and
periodicals of every kind, which were taken in, The gentle-